The unnamed man was examining the auxiliary power unit on the tail of a stationary aircraft when the incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning at the UK flag carrier’s engineering base.

The man’s condition is currently unknown, though emergency services were summoned (including London’s Ambulance Service) at just after 2am after the incident.

In a statement to The Independent, 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.”

Airline engineers are responsible for the safety of airline fleets, keeping them safe, reliable and airworthy through regular maintenance, repair and operational support.