It was a human element and not an equipment failure, as earlier thought.

On Friday, the Times has reported that last week’s chaotic scene at British Airways was caused by a contractor who inadvertently switched-off the power supply at one of its data centre.

The innocent mistake knocked out its computer systems and left 75,000 passengers stranded.

Citing British Airways sources, the Times reported that although the power supply unit which caused the I.T. failure, was working fine. It was however, accidentally shut down by a worker.

An investigation into the issue will focus on elements of human error rather than any equipment failure.

The incident last Saturday forced British Airways to cancel all flights from London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports. At that time it had pointed a finger at a power surge as the cause for its I.T failure, which disrupted its flights, call centres activity and its website.