Delhi airport roof collapse kills one, injures others after heavy rains

A section of roof at New Delhi’s airport collapsed following heavy rain on Friday, crushing one man to death and injuring eight others in the latest high profile infrastructure disaster to dent India’s image.

“Due to heavy rain since early this morning, a portion of the canopy at the old Departure forecourt of Delhi’s Terminal 1 collapsed around 5 am,” a statement from the Indira Gandhi International Airport said.

All departures from Terminal 1 are temporarily suspended, the statement added.

Delhi Fire Services assistant divisional officer Ravinder Singh said rescuers got to the scene to find two support pillars had collapsed over a car.

“It took us a little longer to get his body out. Our rescue operations ended in 20 minutes,” he said, adding the wounded were taken to hospital.

Photos of the scene released by the fire service showed the large white canopy of the roof had plunged to the ground, crushing several cars. One person could be seen slumped under twisted metal in the driver’s seat of one of the cars.

India’s minister of Civil Aviation, Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, said he was “personally monitoring” the collapse in a statement on X.

Parts of the capital territory of Delhi experienced heavy rainfall this week, flooding roads and submerging cars. The showers brought some respite from weeks of blistering heat after the city experienced temperatures as high as 49.9 degrees Celsius (121.8 degrees Fahrenheit) – its highest on record – straining the country’s electricity grid and power supply.

Friday’s incident is the latest in a string of collapses and other mishaps in the nation of 1.4 billion, which in recent years, has prioritized spending on grand infrastructure projects and upgrading its aging transport network.

Earlier this month, at least nine people were killed and dozens of others injured after a cargo train collided with a passenger train in eastern India.

In 2022, some 135 people were killed when a newly renovated suspension bridge collapsed in Morbi, in the western state of Gujarat, in what was described as one of the worst public safety tragedies in recent years.