Fire at IGIA’s cargo terminal, goods safe

A major fire broke out in the cargo section of Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi early this morning causing damage to property worth crores but no one was injured.

A major fire broke out at the cargo terminal of Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) around 1:15am on Thursday.

Offices of over 20 airlines — such as Thai Cargo, Aeroflot Cargo, Gulf Air, Air Arabia and Air — were gutted, their damages running into crores. Important documents related to shipments were destroyed though no goods were damaged or casualties reported.

The incident has, however, prompted fire department to issue a notice to DIAL as they haven’t taken fire clearance. “We have no procedure to check old buildings. The fire safety equipment were not maintained properly,” AK Sharma, director of Delhi Fire Service (DFS), said.

Although the reason for the fire is not known yet, police are probing a sabotage angle and have filed an FIR. “We are scanning CCTV footage and the forensic team could tell the area from where the fire began,” RA Sanjeev, DCP (airport), said.

Initially the maintenance staff tried to douse the flames themselves but failed. A call was made to fire department and over two dozen fire tenders were rushed to the spot. “It took us over three hours to douse the blaze and 28 fire tenders of DFS and six fire tenders of DIAL were rushed to the spot,” a fire department official said.

According to a DIAL spokesperson, “The fire broke out at one of the airline offices on the first floor of the import side of the cargo terminal operated by Celebi.” Officials said the area comprises of only airline offices and hence, no cargo consignment has been affected in any way.