A fire at a parking lot near the venue of an airshow in Bengaluru destroyed 300 cars yesterday, a senior fire official said, the latest accident to mar the government-run event.
The most likely cause was a “dry grass fire aided by heavy winds”, said Director General of Police for Fire and Emergency Services M N Reddi.
There were no reports of casualties, he added in a tweet.
Television footage showed rows of burnt-out cars and huge flames and plumes of black smoke.
The fire, which began around 12 noon, quickly burnt down the cars parked by visitors and public attending the airshow.
The aerial display of aircraft between 2pm and 5pm, continued according to schedule.
Several of the visitors, however, left even as the air display was going on, fearing their cars were among the ones damaged.
“We had parked our car in the parking lot opposite to the air base. An announcement in the air display area by the air show organisers at 12.30pm only said it was a small fire, but did not mention about the cars catching fire,” Shashi Kumar, a Bengaluru-based engineer said.
The Aero India show at the Yelahanka air base, run by the country’s defence ministry, aims to become one of the world’s premier aerospace events, but has been troubled by accidents this year.
On Tuesday, two Indian Air Force planes collided in mid-air while rehearsing an aerobatic show, killing one pilot and injuring two others.
Meanwhile, daring aerobatics by the Surya Kiran jets of the IAF delighted thousands of people yesterday.
Led by Group Captain Grover, the seven Surya Kirans also flew in an ‘incomplete diamond’ formation as a tribute to Wing Commander Sahil Gandhi who died in the Tuesday’s accident.
“The Surya Kirans were checked thoroughly for any mechanical default before flying. It is a tradition of the IAF to go ahead with the display even in the event of an accident to keep the spirit, ethos and motivation of the squadron high,” an IAF official said.
Though the IAF had decided that the Surya Kiran Aerobatics Team (SKAT) would not be part of the display at the five-day airshow following the accident on Tuesday, awesome feats by its seven Hawk jets enthralled the audience.
Also yesterday, ace badminton player P V Sindhu flew in homegrown Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas at the airshow.
“The flight was a wonderful experience. The captain performed various manoeuvres, including a loop,” Sindhu told reporters after the sortie which lasted for about 40 minutes.
The combat jet’s trainer version was piloted by Group Captain Siddharth Singh, while Sindhu was the co-pilot in the tandem-seater cockpit.
Sindhu is the first woman to fly in a Tejas aircraft.
“The aircraft was on a medium altitude sortie and flew up to a maximum height of about 5km,” an IAF official said.
Chief of Army Staff General Bipin Rawat also flew in the aircraft on Thursday.
The LCA on February 20 got the final operational clearance (FOC) from military aviation regulator Centre for Military Airworthiness and Certification (Cemilac) for induction into the IAF as a weaponised fighter jet in its operational fleet.
Firefighters extinguish smouldering cars after a fire broke out in a parking lot during the Aero India show at the Yelahanka Air Force Station in Bengaluru, yesterday.
