Roof leaks at Hyderabad airport amid heavy rain; video of water in terminal goes viral

Hyderabad became the latest entrant to the concerning ‘airport roof leakage’ series this week amid heavy rainfall. Visuals from the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport showed water cascading down from the ceiling as many passengers gathered to watch the scene. The development comes mere weeks after part of the ceiling collapsed in the Delhi, Rajkot and Jabalpur airports amid torrential rain.

The incident was flagged on social media earlier this week with many lashing out at the administration for failing to address the issue.

“Isn't this in the newly expanded terminal. One can see it is poorly finished,” said one X user.

“I thought GMR would maintain some standards in construction. Seems like everyone doesn't maintain some safety and quality standards in construction. What if that roof collapse like what happened in Delhi terminal. This is new extension opened recently,” added a second.

“Most coveted leaky roof club,” jibed a third. 

Meanwhile the airport authorities said that the ‘unusual’ incident had been triggered by heavy rainfall and efforts were underway to resolve it promptly.

“Thank you for highlighting the issue. The heavy rainfall led to an unusual water leakage in terminal. Our technical team responded promptly and are working on resolving the issue. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused and assure you that our ground team is closely monitoring the situation,” the RGIA handle on X assured.

Terminal 1 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport was closed for several weeks after a part of the roof and pillars outside the departure area came crashing down on June 28. The accident killed one person and injured at least eight others as well as crushing several cars. The fatal roof collapse had also prompted the government to call for an audit of the structural stability of airport buildings and associated infrastructure.

A near-identical turn of events in Jabalpur also saw a section of the tensile roof canopy at Dumna Airport collapse on June 28. The newly expanded terminal had been inaugurated just three months earlier by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

(With inputs from agencies)