When a travel bag triggered a tragedy

There were no technicians near the escalator. AAI deputy director S K Mishra told The Indian Express: “We have one shift engineer for the entire terminal. We can’t have engineers sitting near every machine. Who would ever expect such an accident to happen? In my 22 years of service, this is the first time such an accident has happened.”

No wonder, no one was there to help Jyotsana. “When her relatives cried out for help, a head constable and sub-inspector, sitting a few feet away from the accident spot, were the first ones to react,” said Mishra. “They alerted the airport authorities onthe intercom around 2.52 am. The airport engineers rushed to the spot, stopped the elevator, reversed it and recovered the girl by 3.10 am. Unfortunately, it was all over by then.”

Perhaps, the airport authorities would have responded immediately had one of the security officials noticed the accident on the screen. There are 25 cameras reporting every movement in the airport. When contacted an airport security official said: “We have only seven screens. How can we monitor 25 cameras at one go?”

Instead, the airport officials pass the buck to the private company that maintained it. Otis is not yet ready to make any statements about the incident. Says Otis general manager (northern India) K M Panicker: “I cannot comment now. Our technical staff are looking into it. Unless I have the report in hand, we cannot decisively say what went wrong.”

Otis will have to explain how an escalator collapses when someone pulls off the strap of his bag and how the plastic strap is stronger than the metalplate.

According to Panicker, the Otis engineers conducted a monthly routine check of the escalator. “In keeping with the maintenance contract, we also attended breakdown calls, if any.”

Otis maintains that there are no major breakdowns on this escalator. But anyone who frequents the IGI airport would know that the escalator is often out of order, point out police officers at the IGI police station. “Often, the airport authorities would put a notice saying “Out of Order, Inconvenience regretted”, a senior police officer said. “If the escalator required frequent repairs, it was obviously not in the best conditions.”

There was no warning notice on the escalator. “In case of an emergency involving the escalator, the first response of the passengers should be to switch off the escalator,” says a senior official of the Delhi Fire Service. “A notice giving this piece of information to all concerned and a pointer to the switch might have helped.”

The IGI police have registered a case ofnegligence. Said SHO Popinder Pal Singh, “We will now interrogate Otis engineers, airport officials and everyone else who had anything to do with the working of the escalator to determine who is at fault. We have to determine whether the escalator was ill-maintained and if there was a technical defect.”