Some more detail:
Airport horror: scan onLapses
Ground staff and the pilots have been blaming each other.
A top Air India source said the pilots appeared to have started the engine without the ground engineers' clearance after the pushback, causing Subramaniam, who was standing before the engine, to be pulled into it.
"They started the engines as soon as Ravi gave his helper the instruction to remove the tow bar, which is clamped on during a pushback. The ATC clearance for the flight to begin taxiing came right then and the pilot asked the co-pilot to check whether both sides of the aircraft were clear," the source said.
"The co-pilot said it was and the pilot pushed the thrust lever, starting the engines, and Ravi got sucked in."
Ravi still had his headset on and was facing the tow truck with his back to the engine as his helper removed the tow bar and the pilots pulled the throttle.
"They are calling it a communication gap because they do not want to upset the pilots," said a member of the ground staff who claimed to have been present in the area at the time of the accident.
"First, the pilots did not wait for ground staff clearance before starting the engine. Second, they had to ensure that both the left and right sides of the aircraft were clear before they started the engine. This is SOP," the groundsman said.