One of the emergency exit rafts of the Biman Bangladesh Airline’s first ever Dreamliner ‘accidentally’ went off just after seven days of its maiden commercial flight.

The raft on the front exit door of the Boeing 787-8 inflated early morning on Tuesday when it was being prepared for a flight after coming from Kuala Lumpur earlier in the day.

Biman has suspended and show caused one of its engineering department staffer over the incident the same day.

The Dreamliner named ‘Akash Beena’ is the newest addition to Biman’s fleet and its first flight was inaugurated by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Sept 5.

According to sources, the aircraft landed Dhaka on 4:15am on Tuesday from Kuala Lumpur. The plane was handed over to the engineering staff for a ground check as part of the standard procedure.

The emergency exit raft ‘accidentally’ inflated when the front door was being opened to load the in-flight meals.

The raft was sent to the engineering department for inspection and it was decided that the aircraft will operate the next flight without it.

The incident caused the Biman flight to Singapore scheduled for 8:25am to be delayed by a little over than 30 minutes to depart around 9am.

Sources in Biman said that due to lack of trained ground staff, five engineers from Ethiopian Airlines have been appointed to oversee the Boeing-trained local staff.

The Dreamliner has four doors equipped with emergency exit rafts each for 55 passengers.

Without one of the emergency exit rafts, the Biman’s newest aircraft is now operating flights with fewer passengers.

“An inquiry has been opened. Stern measures will be taken if anyone found to be negligent,” said Biman General Manager (public relations) Shakil Meraj.