An engineer is reportedly fighting for his life after falling 20ft from a British Airways jet.

The worker is in a “serious” condition in hospital after plunging onto concrete. He was examining the auxiliary power unit on the tail of a jet parked in a hangar at BA’s Engineering Base at Heathrow airport when he is understood to have fallen.

Emergency services were called to the scene of the accident just after 2am on Sunday and rushed the engineer to a London hospital.

The London Ambulance Service said: “We were called at 2.07am on Sunday 7 December to reports of an incident on Vanguard Way, Heathrow Airport.

“We sent resources to the scene including an ambulance crew, an advanced paramedic and an incident response officer. We also dispatched a trauma team in a car from London’s Air Ambulance. Our first paramedics arrived on scene in approximately four minutes. We treated a man at the scene and took him to a major trauma centre as a priority.”

A source told The Sun : “This type of accident is incredibly rare and has sent shockwaves through the BA community. The mechanic was assessing the safety of a jet in a routine inspection when he suddenly fell at least 20ft onto concrete.

“He was a trusted engineer with an impeccable background and an investigation will establish how this could have happened. It really didn’t look good and everyone is saying their prayers for him.”

A British Airways spokesperson reportedly said : “Our thoughts are with our colleague and we’re supporting them, their family and their colleagues. Safety is always our highest priority and we’re assisting the authorities with their enquiries.”

BA has launched an investigation and the Health & Safety Executive are also looking into the incident separately.

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