NEWS

Why Delhi airport has become dangerous

By Vicky Nanjappa in New Delhi
October 24, 2007

Sansruti Sinha, the Air Deccan employee who died under mysterious circumstances at the Delhi airport on Monday, was to have gotten engaged to a software engineer from Bangalore.

Her house back in Patna was buzzing with activity and the family was getting ready for her engagement, before fate struck.

Her friend Shruti recalls that Sansruti was bubbling with joy and was very excited about her engagement. She was also eagerly awaiting the arrival of her parents who were to reach Delhi on Wednesday and finalise the arrangements for the engagement.

Sansruti's is not the first time such an accident has happened in the airport.

Only last month, a CISF inspector riding a motorcycle rammed hit his bike into an Airports Authority of India official at the international airport. Both were seriously injured.

Apart from this there have been a host of other freak mishaps in the Delhi airport which by now should have given the authorities some reason to ponder over. A major cause for the growing number of freak accidents in the past two years is largely due to the sudden rise of flights in the airports. As a consequence, the number of vehicles in the tarmac too has increased tenfold.

Most of these drivers are untrained and not offered secure jobs. Only certain airlines such as Air India offer secure jobs and train the drivers as they considered the job to be a sensitive one.

D S Kohli, executive director (northern region), Air India says that the problem of rash driving has affected them too and they had been receiving several complaints in this regard.

Meanwhile, while her family continues to allege there has been foul play in Sansruti's death, the airport authorities say that the accident appears to have occurred due to a vehicular accident. Airport officials say there was a tyre mark on Sansruti's head.

The question that is being asked which of the vehicles could have run over her. There are around 15 different types of vehicles in the airport which also include oil tankers. The police say that they have not been able to get any of the eye witnesses on record and once that is done, there would be more clarity in the case.

Freak accidents at the Delhi Airport.

August 2006: 2 injured after DIAL coach rams into tractor in the apron area.

July 2006: Air Deccan passenger coach hits against Indian Airlines passenger coach.

July 2006: Aeroflot tractor hit by an airport minibus in which driver dies.

July 2006: Air Deccan bus collides with a cab at airport.

February 2007: Air Sahara coach collides with Indian Airlines bus; seven
hurt.

September 2007: CISF inspector hit his bike into AAI official

Vicky Nanjappa in New Delhi

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