Oil tanker overturns at airport, 2 injured

An aircraft refueling tanker of a private company turned turtle on the apron service road inside Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport on Tuesday morning. As a result, a huge amount of oil fell on the runway early on Wednesday morning.

The incident took place at around 5.30 am and the staff of NSCBI was not ready for it as they were confused about their primary approach. According to an airport source, the driver of the oil tanker, identified as Swaraj Bhushan Tiwari, lost control over the steering wheel of the tanker and the vehicle turned turtle.

"It is really difficult to say whether the driver was intoxicated or not but this is certain that he suddenly lost control over his vehicle. He was carrying aviation turbine fuel (ATF) to the airport," said an eyewitness of the incident.

"The incident happened on the apron service road near taxi bay no. 1 and 2. Swaraj Bhushan Tiwari and his assistant Rahul Bardhan were injured and were taken to a hospital," the eyewitness added.

The airport officials visited the spot soon after the incident and a cleaning operation was started. The normal works of the airport were stalled for an hour, later the situation was under control.

"The CRPF jawans spread foam on the spot as two of the airbuses were standing nearby," said a police officer.