Delhi airport roof collapse leaves one dead after heavy rain

Vehicles are crushed outside terminal at Indira Gandhi International Airport

Workers assess the collapsed roof at Indira Gandhi International Airport's Terminal 1, with the incident forcing authorities to cancel flights. AP

At least one person was killed and four were injured when part of the roof at New Delhi's international airport collapsed on Friday morning.

India's Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu said heavy rain caused the incident at the pickup and drop-off area of Terminal 1 at Indira Gandhi International Airport, one of the busiest airports in the world.

Cars in the area were crushed under sections of the fallen roof.

Sections of the collapsed canopy rest on vehicles outside Delhi airport's Terminal 1. AP Photo

"This morning, an unfortunate incident happened after a section of the canopy outside of the extension of the airport building collapsed due to heavy rains," the minister said after arriving at the airport. "We want to express our condolences to the life lost and four people have also been injured."

The airport said in a statement that “due to heavy rains since early this morning, a portion of the canopy at the old departure forecourt of Delhi airport's Terminal 1 collapsed around 5am".

Departing flights were cancelled until noon as a result of the incident. “The terminal building has been closed off. The passengers will be refunded for the cancelled flights or rescheduled flights,” Mr Kinjarapu said.

IndiGo said passengers already inside the terminal would be able to board their flights, while others would be offered alternative flights.

“This unplanned situation has also led to operations across the network being impacted. This has led to flight cancellations at Delhi as passengers are not able to enter the terminal,” the airline said.

New Delhi received 228mm of rain over the previous 24 hours, meteorological officials said on Friday, the heaviest rainfall in 88 years and nearly three times the monthly average of 80mm in June.

The rain followed weeks of intense heat and came as the monsoon, which begins in June and lasts until September, advances over the Indian subcontinent.

The rain caused a wall to collapse at an under-construction building in the Vasant Vihar area that trapped three workers under mud.

Emergency teams were using cranes and pumps to rescue the workers, who lived at the site.

Delhi's Lutyens area, the seat of India's government and home to hundreds of parliamentarians, was flooded in knee deep water.

Congress MP Manish Tiwari posted a video of himself wading through water at his home.

Shashi Tharoor, another Congress MP, wrote on X that his entire home was "under a foot of water".

"Carpets and furniture, indeed anything on the ground, were ruined. Apparently the stormwater drains in the neighbourhood are all clogged so the water had no place to go,” he said.

The flooding caused traffic snarls and forced the closure of the Pragati Maidan tunnel, a 1.3-kilometre underpass built at a cost of 8 billion rupees ($95 million) ahead of the G20 summit last year.

Delhi suffers repeated problems with its drainage network and often floods during the monsoon season.