One dead, several injured after roof collapses at Delhi airport’s Terminal 1
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Visuals from media showed water pouring from the collapsed roof and a taxi stuck under a pillar, even as rain continued to pelt down in the area.
PHOTOS: SCREENGRABS FROM JAYANT BHANDARI AND NAYINI ANURAG REDDY/X
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NEW DELHI - Heavy rainfall and winds brought down a roof at the main airport in New Delhi on June 28, killing one person and disrupting flights from a domestic terminal, while flooded streets and traffic snarls threw daily life out of gear in India’s capital.
The airport area received about 148.5mm of rain over three hours in the early morning, more than the average for all of June, according to India’s weather office.
The city of 20 million people received 228.1mm rainfall at its main Safdarjung weather station in the 24 hours ending 8.30am (11am Singapore time) on June 28, a 266 per cent departure from normal.
A portion of the canopy at the departure area of Terminal 1 collapsed and flight operations were shut down until 2pm, India’s Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu told reporters.
The entire terminal, one of three at the country’s biggest and busiest airport, was evacuated and an inquiry ordered into the collapse, he said.
He added that compensation of 2 million rupees (S$32,540) will be given to the deceased, and 300,000 rupees to those injured.
Mr Atul Garg, the director of Delhi Fire Service (DFS), said rescue work has been completed, and eight injured people were taken to hospital.
According to data from flight tracking platform Flightradar24, at least 10 flights were cancelled and 40 were delayed, while departures from Delhi airport were running late by an average of 50 minutes.
Mr Naidu said that arrivals and departures of flights scheduled from Terminal 1 after 2pm were diverted through the other two terminals, adding that passengers will receive full refunds or have the option of booking on alternative flights and routes.
Visuals from Indian TV channels showed a taxi crushed under a wrecked metal pillar at the entrance area of the terminal, which is mostly used by low-cost carriers IndiGo and SpiceJet for domestic flights.
One of the workers at the airport said ten to 12 cars were damaged and vehicles were still being pulled out from under the debris.
Mr Asif Ali, a businessman standing outside Terminal 1, said: “I first missed my flight in the morning due to floods. Then my 2.10pm Indigo flight to Bangalore was cancelled. I have to urgently reach Bangalore for an official meeting.”
IndiGo, which is operated by Interglobe Aviation, separately said it has cancelled all flights from the terminal until midnight on June 29.
“This unplanned situation has also led to operations across the network being impacted,” an IndiGo spokesperson said in a statement.
India’s aviation regulator has asked airlines to accommodate passengers on alternative flights or provide full refunds, ET Now reported.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for DFS said that a wall in south-west Delhi’s Vasant Vihar area had collapsed due to the heavy rainfall, with labourers feared trapped in the debris.
Many other parts of Delhi were flooded as well, and cars trapped in thigh-deep water.
Metro services were affected, and traffic snarls were reported from several parts of the city, while several residents also complained of power cuts.
At Jabalpur Airport in the central state of Madhya Pradesh, the roof and windows of a parked car were damaged when part of a canopy of the new terminal building caved in and fell following heavy rain.
India is among the fastest-growing major aviation markets in the world, and domestic air travel reached a record 152 million passengers in 2023, according to government data.
Domestic airlines carried 13.8 million passengers in May.
The country has built ports and expressways at the fastest pace ever over the past decade, but the incidents at Delhi airport and at Jabalpur reignited questions about shoddy work, loose regulation and a tearing hurry to complete projects, politicians and experts said.
Ahead of the April-May general election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated or laid the foundation stone of new terminal buildings at 15 airports at a cost of 98 billion rupees. Both Delhi’s Terminal 1 and the terminal at Jabalpur were part of the projects.
Opposition parties criticised Mr Modi’s government, saying projects were inaugurated in a hurry before the election.
“Corruption and criminal negligence is responsible for the collapse of shoddy infrastructure falling like a deck of cards, in the past 10 years of the Modi govt,” Mr Mallikarjun Kharge, the president of the main opposition Congress party, said on X.
Mr Naidu, the aviation minister, defended the government, saying the roof collapse at Delhi’s airport was part of an old building that was opened in 2009 and not the one Mr Modi inaugurated in March. REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
