Madurai airport compound wall collapses due to rain

CISF, district police personnel deployed to check possible intrusion of men, animals

Hard hit: The AAI has employed workers to erect a temporary fencing on the portion of the compound wall of Madurai airport, which collapsed following heavy rain on Saturday night.

MADURAI

A portion of the compound wall of Madurai airport – more than 50 feet in length – collapsed following heavy rain on Saturday night. The airport had recorded 95 mm of rainfall in the 24 hours ending at 6 a.m. on Sunday.

Central Industrial Security Force personnel have been deployed at the spot to prevent any possible intrusion by men or animals into the airport.

An airport source said rain, which started around 7.30 p.m. on Saturday, pounded the region for more than two hours, leading to water stagnation. The brick work of the wall, with a height of some eight feet with barbed fencing over it, collapsed under the pressure of water around 8.30 p.m.

The portion of the wall is very close and runs parallel to Madurai-Thoothukudi Inner Ring Road, and hence the district police too have deployed personnel as a precautionary measure.

Airports Authority of India has employed labourers to erect a temporary fencing on the damaged portion of the wall. “It is a temporary measure to secure the area against any possible intrusion. Construction of the wall will be taken up later,” an airport source said.

Stagnant water was gushing out from the sprawling airport premises even past noon on Sunday.