Emergency in sinking Delhi

Structural audit of all airports is ordered after roof mishap at T1

The civil aviation ministry on Friday ordered a thorough inspection of the structural strength of all airports in the country. These inspections must be completed within the next 2-5 days and the reports are to be submitted to the ministry. Structural engineers from IIT Delhi have been also asked to immediately assess the mishap at the Delhi airport.

A cab driver died and six people were injured after a portion of a canopy at Terminal-1 collapsed on cars in the pickup and drop area, amid heavy rain early on Friday, leading to suspension and cancellation of flights. Besides the canopy, the support beams also collapsed. The injured have been hospitalised.

The mishap happened even as Delhi was inundated by heavy rain for the second consecutive day; it was one of the wettest spells and the city logged nearly 230 mm of rainfall between 8:30 am on Thursday and 8:30 am on Friday -- the highest 24-hour rainfall in June since 1936. Visuals on X showed waterlogged roads, traffic snarls and submerged vehicles, including one at Minto Bridge. T1 only caters to IndiGo and SpiceJet domestic flights, more than 100 of which were cancelled.