Civil Aviation Minister orders probe into Delhi airport roof collapse

An inquiry has been ordered into the roof collapse at the Delhi airport that occurred early on Friday, in which one person was killed and six others were injured. Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu announced a thorough inspection of the airport structure. After visiting the site of the roof collapse at the Delhi airport, Minister Naidu, while interacting with the media, claimed that the situation was now under control, PTI reported.

Terminal 1 has reportedly been closed and planes are being sent to Terminals 2 and 3.

Minister Naidu said that the kin of the person who died in the Delhi airport roof collapse incident will be given compensation of Rs 20 lakh and the injured people will be given Rs 3 lakh.

The roof collapse of the Delhi airport occurred around 5 am in the departure area of ​​Terminal 1 amidst the torrential rains that Delhi-NCR is receiving.

The ministry said that torrential rain forced the canopy of Terminal 1 to collapse, leading to suspension of flight operations to and from Terminal 1 until further notice and that alternative flight arrangements are being made. PTI said its sources indicated that flight departures are suspended till 2 pm.

IndiGo and SpiceJet offer domestic flights from Terminal 1. The airport, which has three terminals (T1, T2 and T3), handles around 1,400 aircraft movements daily, according to the PTI report.

During the study, the technical reasons for the collapse of the Delhi airport roof will be revealed. The collapsed structure was opened in 2009 and an inspection supervised by the DGCA will be carried out by the airport operator, DIAL.

According to the report, Minister Naidu further stated that all comparable buildings at airports across the country would be thoroughly inspected. The roof that collapsed was built by private contractors working for GMR in 2008-09.

Fire safety and emergency response teams, including CISF and NDRF troops, were rushed in. A DIAL representative indicated that emergency services are providing help and medical attention to those affected. All departures from Terminal 1 are suspended and check-in counters are closed for security reasons.

DIAL, a consortium led by GMR Group, manages the Indira Gandhi International Airport.

With PTI inputs