India’s civil aviation minister indicates that the government is set to check airports throughout the country after the fatal collapse of a terminal roof at Delhi’s Indira Gandhi international airport – the second airport structural incident in the space of two days.
Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu says the 28 June accident involved a section of Delhi’s Terminal 1 roof canopy and resulted from “heavy rain” overnight.
At least one fatality has been confirmed, and several people suffered injuries.
“Right now the situation is under control. The whole rest of the terminal is closed off,” says Kinjarapu.
“This is taken as a very serious incident, not just in this airport, but across the country any airport that [have] similar structures, we’ll have to go through them all again.”
While Terminal 1 has recently undergone a modernisation, Kinjarapu says the section affected by the collapse – which occurred around 05:00 – is the older departures forecourt which was built in 2009.
Delhi airport’s operator says all Terminal 1 flights have been shifted to Terminal 2 and 3.
“I will see that a thorough examination of the terminal’s structure is conducted by experts to ensure safety,” says Kinjarapu.
He says several agencies including the civil aviation directorate, national disaster response force, central industrial security force, and Delhi police are co-ordinating the response.
The Delhi collapse follows an incident the previous day at Jabalpur airport, some 660km southeast of the capital.
Airports Authority of India states that “continuous rain” caused a fabric canopy – part of a newly-constructed building at Jabalpur – to tear, and drop the pooled rainwater onto a car, badly damaging the vehicle.
“An inquiry has been ordered to investigate the technical reasons for the incident so that…they can be resolved and it can be ensured that such incidents do not recur,” says the authority.
