Day after death, mess continues at airport

Traffic management outside the congested departure terminal at the Indira Gandhi International Airport remained the same on Monday, a day after a bus killed a Ukrainian national, reports HT Correspondent.

Traffic management outside the congested departure terminal at the Indira Gandhi International Airport remained the same on Monday, a day after a bus killed a Ukrainian national and injured three there. Even the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is not investigating the case because the mishap occurred near the terminal gate and not inside.

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Airport operator, Delhi International Airport (P) Ltd., plans to ban buses from the ramp near the international departure terminal, but that would take at least four months. DIAL also maintains that the accident happened due to a technical fault in the bus that was carrying cabin crew of Lufthansa Airlines and not due to faulty traffic planning.

At 12.50 am on Sunday, the bus carrying an airline cabin crew hit three passengers and an airport staff when the passengers were taking off their luggage from their bus in front of Gate number 3 of the departure terminal number 2. According to DIAL, the bus had stopped but suddenly jerked forward and hit the passengers and killed Mykhailo Bershadsky (56), a Ukrainian who was taking an Indian flight to Moscow.

The police arrested the bus driver for rash and negligent driving and are investigating the case. The DGCA said on Monday that the incident doesn’t come under their purview. “The incident didn’t occur in the airport operational area, so there is no question of us investigating it,” DGCA Kanu Gohain said.

DIAL said the plan to shift all the buses to the arrival area downstairs to de-congest the departure terminal could only be implemented when special elevators are installed to carry passengers and cabin crew upstairs. “We have placed the order but the firm that supplies these special lifts need a lot of time to provide them,” a senior DIAL official said. The process would take at least four months. DIAL also plans to build a special parking area near the international arrival.