The airport authority temporarily suspends all departures from the affected Terminal 1 to clear debris.
At least one person died after the roof of a terminal at the Indian capital’s main airport partially collapsed due to heavy rain, with several domestic flights cancelled.
The collapse occurred at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport on Friday morning, with authorities evacuating Terminal 1 and canceling flights until 2pm (0830 GMT), Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu said. to reporters at the facility, confirming the death.
Atul Garg, director of Delhi Fire Services, said at least eight people were injured in the collapse in the terminal’s domestic departures area.
Broadcast footage showed a taxi crushed under a destroyed metal pillar in the entrance area of the terminal, which is mainly used by low-cost airlines IndiGo and SpiceJet for domestic flights.
The airport authority said the collapse was caused by “heavy rain” at 5am (2330 GMT Thursday).
“Emergency personnel are working to provide all necessary assistance and medical assistance to those affected,” the authority said in a statement.
In addition to the roof, some support beams also collapsed, damaging cars in the terminal’s arrivals and departures area, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.
The airport area received about 148.5 mm of rain during three hours in the early morning, more than the average for the entire month of June, according to India’s meteorological office. Many other parts of the capital were flooded with the arrival of the annual monsoon after a long period of heatwaves.
Inspection of Terminal T1 and review with those responsible.
All necessary rescue operations are being conducted at the terminal pic.twitter.com/6ck4ce39RY-Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu (@RamMNK) June 28, 2024
The collapse occurred months after an airport renovation project was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The airport is considered one of its main infrastructure projects.
Safety and construction standards in the country continue to be a concern. At the scene, Naidu told journalists that the collapsed roof was part of an old building opened in 2009 and that the building opened by Modi “is on the other side”.
An inquiry into the collapse has been ordered, the minister said.
Opposition politicians criticized the prime minister following the incident, accusing him of going on an “inauguration spree” ahead of the elections, which ended earlier this month.
“Will the Chief Inauguration Minister take responsibility for this poor construction work and this corrupt model?” said Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, general secretary of the opposition Congress party.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
