Fire at Delhi airport terminal

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, DEC. 14. A Jet Airways flight to Mumbai was delayed by over an hour and domestic flights of private airlines shifted to Terminal 1-A of the Indira Gandhi International Airport after two minor fires broke out today.

An airport spokesperson said the first fire was sparked off by a short-circuit in the gents' toilet of Terminal 1-B at about 12-20 a.m. The airport authorities alerted fire control and rescue services and smoke contractors were put into use. Power supply to the terminal was switched off to prevent the fire from spreading.

The spokesperson said the terminal was illuminated with ``high mask lights'' and subsequently all wiring was checked by electrical engineers.

Since a Jet Airways flight (NW-352) was scheduled to leave at 2 p.m. and nearly 60 passengers had gathered in Terminal 1-B, the authorities shifted them to Terminal 1-A - normally used by Indian Airlines - from where they eventually left for Mumbai at 3-20 p.m.

At 4 p.m., the authorities switched on the power in Terminal 1-B to see if everything was in order. But there was sparking in the cables again - this time in the false ceiling of the Sahara Airways office. Since the firemen and electrical engineers were close at hand, the fire was quickly controlled.

The spokesperson claimed both fires were ``very minor'' and did not cause damage to the airport building. ``But since the authorities are trying to get to the root cause of these fires to prevent recurrence, they have shifted to terminal 1-A tonight's departure of all flights by domestic airways.''

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Section  : National
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