300 cars gutted in Aero India parking area fire

BENGALURU: A major fire swept through the parking area of the Aero India event at the Yelahanka Air Force station here, gutting about 300 cars on Saturday, the penultimate day of Asia’s premier air show, official sources said.

No casualties were reported in the blaze suspected to have been caused by dry grass fire aided by heavy winds, the sources said, adding the parking area was ‘far away’ from the air force station.

The 12th edition of the air show went on unaffected by the incident, which came four days after two jets of Indian Air Force’s aerobatic team Surya Kiran crashed, killing a pilot a day before the opening of the event.

The scheduled morning aerobatic display was over before the fire broke out while the afternoon programme was unhindered, Defence PRO HL Guruprasad said.

The events slated for Sunday, the final day, would go ahead as planned, he said.

A blanket of thick black smoke engulfed the area causing panic among locals and visitors to the Aero India event.

Aero India, that was limited to officials, businesses and foreign delegations, media and restricted invitees for the past three days, was thrown open to the public on Saturday.

“#AeroShowOpenParkingAreaFire In all, 300 cars burnt in the fire incident. Fire fully extinguished now. 10 FireForce and 5 other fire engines fought the fire under the leadership of Chief Fire Officer, West,” DGP Fire Services MN Reddi said in a tweet.

“....no injuries or any harm to people reported. Likely cause: dry grass fire aided by heavy winds,” he said.