Fire breaks out at Kolkata airport; no casualties reported

Passengers at Kolkata’s Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport were left in a state of panic after a fire broke out near the departure gate on Wednesday (June 14). No casualty, however, have been reported.

Authorities say normal operations have resumed at the airport after the fire was extinguished.

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“It was a minor fire incident at the portal D check-in counter. It was extinguished and we resumed the flight operations by 22:25 hrs. There were no casualties. All operations are normal now,” ANI quoted C Pattabhi, the Airport Director as saying.

Officials said, the fire was noticed at around 9.10 pm and it was doused within half an hour, adding that no arrival flight was affected.

They added that the check-in process was suspended for some time as eight fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the blaze.

The entire area inside the airport was engulfed with thick black smoke after the fire broke out at the 3C departure gate.

“There was a minor fire and smoke on the check-in area portal D at 2112 pm and fully extinguished by 2140 pm. All passengers are evacuated safely and check-in process suspended due to presence of smoke in the check-in area,” the airport tweeted.

Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia in a tweet described the fire incident as unfortunate.

“In touch with the airport director – the situation is under control. Fortunately, everyone is safe and no injuries have been reported,” he said.

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Scindia said the check-in process resumed at 10.25 pm, while adding that the cause of the fire will be ascertained at the earliest.

Officials said the check-in is now being conducted via portal C.

No arrival flight was affected due to the incident, officials said.

Since there was a rush of passengers, airport authorities took no chance and used their firefighters to douse the fire. The cooling process started after it was extinguished, a police officer said.

Officials said after an initial investigation that a short circuit could be the reason for the fire.
State Fire Services Minister Sujit Bose told PTI that his department had sent four fire tenders to assist the Airports Authority Of India (AAI) in fighting the blaze.

Initially, it seems that some fault related to the air conditioning system caused the fire.
The exact reason behind it will be known after an investigation, he said.

(With inputs from agencies)