One person died and six were injured after a portion of the roof of the Delhi airport’s Terminal-1 collapsed on cars, including taxis, amid heavy rain early Friday, leading to suspension of flight departures, according to officials. Taxis stationed at the city side of the terminal were buried and four vehicles were damaged in the incident. Airport authorities have temporarily suspended all departures from T1.Personnel from the Delhi police, fire services, CISF and the National Disaster Response Force are present at the site to carry out rescue operations.
The deceased has been identified as 45-year-old Ramesh Kumar, while the injured have been identified as Santosh Kumar Yadav, Shubham Shah, Dashrath Ahirwar, Arvind Goswami, Sahil Sudan and Yogesh Dhawan, according to Delhi Police. “Due to heavy rain since early this morning, a portion of the canopy at the old Departure forecourt of Delhi Airport’s Terminal 1 collapsed around 5 am. Emergency personnel are working to provide all necessary assistance and medical aid to those affected,” a Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) spokesperson said. “As a result of this incident, all departures from Terminal 1 are temporarily suspended, and check-in counters are closed as a safety measure. We sincerely regret this disruption and apologise for any inconvenience caused,” the spokesperson added.
IndiGo, the airline that was most impacted due to the incident, issued helpline numbers for its passengers.“IndiGo flight operations are impacted due to structural damage to Terminal 1, Delhi Airport because of adverse weather conditions. This has led to flight cancellations at Delhi as passengers are not able to enter the terminal…This unplanned situation has also led to operations across the network being impacted. Customers are advised to keep a track of and confirm their flight status before leaving for the airport,” the airline spokesperson said.