One dead after roof collapses at Delhi airport during heavy rains | News

The airport authority is temporarily suspending all departures from the affected Terminal 1 to clear debris.

At least one person has died when the roof of a terminal building at the Indian capital’s main airport partially collapsed due to heavy rains and several domestic flights were cancelled.

The collapse occurred early Friday at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport. Authorities evacuated Terminal 1 and cancelled flights until 2 p.m. (08:30 GMT), Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu told reporters at the scene, confirming the fatality.

Atul Garg, the Delhi Fire Service chief, said at least eight people were injured in the collapse in the domestic departure area.

Television images showed a taxi crushed under a destroyed metal pillar in the entrance area of ​​the terminal. The terminal is mainly used by the budget airlines IndiGo and SpiceJet for domestic flights.

The airport authority said the collapse was caused by “heavy rain” at 5 a.m. (Thursday, 11:30 p.m. CET).

“Emergency personnel are working to provide all necessary assistance and medical care to those affected,” the agency said in a statement.

In addition to the roof, several support beams also collapsed, damaging cars in the pick-up and drop-off areas of the terminal, reported the news agency Press Trust of India.

According to the India Meteorological Department, the airport area received about 148.5 mm of rain in three hours in the early hours of the morning, more than the average for the whole of June. Many other parts of the capital were flooded as the annual monsoon set in after a long heatwave.

Inspection of the T1 terminal and meeting with officials.
All necessary rescue measures are carried out at the terminal pic.twitter.com/6ck4ce39RY

— Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu (@RamMNK) June 28, 2024

The collapse came months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a redevelopment project at the airport, considered one of his most important infrastructure projects.

Safety and construction standards in the country remain a cause for concern. At the site, Naidu told reporters that the collapsed roof was part of an older building that opened in 2009 and that the building inaugurated by Modi was “on the other side.”

An investigation into the collapse has been ordered, the minister said.

Opposition politicians sharply attacked the prime minister after the incident, accusing him of conducting an “inauguration orgy” ahead of elections that ended earlier this month.

“Will the Chief Inauguration Minister take responsibility for this shoddy construction work and corrupt model?” said Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, general secretary of the opposition Congress party.