A roof collapsed under heavy rainfall and winds at one of the world’ busiest airports, killing one person and injuring eight others.
Videos online show huge pillars supporting the roof smashing into cars parked along the Delhi airport’s Terminal 1 causing the terminal to be evacuated.
Delhi Fire Services assistant divisional officer Ravinder Singh said rescuers got to the scene to find two support pillars had collapsed over a car.
“There were eight injured and one man died,” Singh told CNN, noting that images showed a man “died in the car as the pillar fell on it.”
“It took us a little longer to get his body out. Our rescue operations ended in 20 minutes,” he said, adding the wounded were taken to hospital.
Further visuals from Indian TV channels showed a taxi crushed under a wrecked metal pillar at the entrance area of the terminal, which is mostly used by low-cost carriers IndiGo and SpiceJet for domestic flights.
All departures from the terminal have been temporarily suspended from the main airport in India’s capital and check-in counters have been closed.
Rescue operations are under way at the airport and the injured are being treated in hospitals.
Airlines have been asked to accommodate passengers on alternate flights or offer them refunds.
Federal Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu has announced a compensation of 2m rupees ($24,000; £19,000) to the family of the deceased and 300,000 rupees for the injured.
The incident happened at 5am (11:30pm GMT Thursday), usually a busy time for domestic flights carrying people across the country, a statement from the airport posted on X said.
The airport area received about 148.5 millimetres of rain over three hours in the early morning, more than the average for all of June, according to India’s weather office.
