A bag having an inflammable chemical caught fire at the Mumbai airport before it was to be loaded on an Ethiopian Airlines Mumbai-Addis Ababa flight on Friday morning.
Five people have been arrested in connection with the incident.
The fire occurred at the ramp while the container was being moved from the baggage make-up area to the aircraft. The airport safety, security and fire teams responded to the fire immediately and put it out with all safety procedures taken into account. The aircraft was dispatched following standard safety procedures, with no issues reported on the aircraft’s side.
Mumbai airport fire: Five arrested
So far, five people have been arrested in the incident, including 31-year-old Samir Narayanchandra Bishwas, a resident of Nadiyal in West Bengal who was allegedly carrying the bag. Besides him, Nandan Dinesh Yadav (26), Suresh Subba Singh (46), Vishwanath Balasubramaniam Senjundhar (37) and Akhilesh Gajraj Yadav (37), have been arrested, as per an official of Sahar police station.
On questioning, Bishwas told the police that Yadav allegedly gave him the bag to be delivered to Naveen Sharma in ‘Congo’. Subsequently, Yadav and three others, including employees of the logistics company, were also arrested. The bag contained 10 kg of inflammable material – half in liquid form and the other half in powder form. According to the official, the material has been sent to a forensic laboratory to determine its exact nature.
(With PTI inputs)