Fire breaks out inside Kolkata airport; short circuit suspected

A fire broke out near a departure gate of the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata on Wednesday night, creating chaos and panic among passengers, officials said.

No casualty was reported.

The fire was noticed at around 9.10 pm and it was doused within half an hour, officials said.

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 3C departure gate.

Later, a tweet from the official page of AAI, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) Airport said there was a minor fire and smoke at the airport but it was extinguished within half hour. Check-in operations were due to begin again by 10:15pm.

Officials said after an initial investigation that a short circuit could be the reason for the fire.

“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.

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.