İstanbul Airport amid snowfall: Why did the cargo terminal's roof collapse?

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The Chamber of Mechanical Engineers' İstanbul Branch has released a written statement about the collapse of the roof of the cargo terminal of İstanbul Airport amid snowfall on January 24, 2022.

Noting that the recently constructed 3rd İstanbul Airport became almost completely non-functional during and after the snowfall, the Chamber of Mechanical Engineers has said, "This incident has also once again shown that the structures that constitute the reasons behind the climate crisis will also be the ones subjected to the effects of climate changes the most."

CLICK - Why does a plane fail to take off from 3rd Airport while it can do so from Atatürk Airport?

'Obstinating with science and nature'

The statement of the Chamber has recalled that "the construction of the 3rd Airport began with an extremely wrong site selection by obstinating with science and nature and continued with a process that was unsafe, far from a technical standpoint and without inspections."

Accordingly, the Chamber of Mechanical Engineers has underlined that "what happened at the 3rd İstanbul Airport and its ring roads due to seasonal heavy snowfall despite all meteorological warnings have once again revealed the importance of science and inspection."

The Chamber has noted that "the structures that did not undergo regular inspections during project designing, construction and use in İstanbul and in the country will continue to come to the public agenda."

Why did the roof collapse?

Defining it as a "great luck" that no one lost their lives during the collapse of the cargo terminal's roof, the Chamber of Mechanical Engineers has noted that "the roof collapsed as it was unable to carry the burden that accumulated as a result of snow fall" and stressed that the roof was "constructed without necessary calculations and by disregarding measures."

"Before the manufacture and installation of steel roof structures, all related risks need to be assessed, the project design needs to be undertaken accordingly and installation instructions need to be determined based on the obtained data," the Chamber of Mechanical Engineers has underlined, adding that "specialist inspectors have to inspect the related structures after their manufacture and installation to see whether they have been constructed in accordance with the project or not."

The Chamber has said, "Taking the conditions and duration of use into account, one needs to check these structures constantly to detect any deformation, crack or corrosion and make sure that they are safe."

'We can work on it'

Against this background, the İstanbul Branch of the Chamber of Medical Engineers has declared that as part of a committee to be formed to inquire about the reasons behind the collapse, the Chamber can work on the matters concerning its field of expertise and can cooperate with the institution to prevent any such accidents that might occur in the future.

What happened?

İstanbul Airport has been operating since October 29, 2018.

The Justice and Development Party (AKP) government promoted the project as "one of the biggest airports of the world" while President and AKP Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan defined "the airport that would be a world-wide masterpiece in the real sense of the term with its duration of construction and capacity" as "one of the symbols of Turkey's 2023 targets".

However, during the heavy snowfall and blizzards in İstanbul on January 24, 2022, the roof of the cargo terminal collapsed, slightly wounding some workers. On the same day, Minister of Interior Süleyman Soylu and Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu landed in the Atatürk Airport, which has been closed to scheduled flights.

İstanbul Grand Airport (İGA), which runs the 3rd Airport, suspended all flights due to adverse weather conditions and heavy snow. Several passengers were stranded at the airport. Many passengers had to spend the night at the terminal by sleeping on cardboards.

After tourists protested by chanting the slogans "We need hotel" on January 25, police entered the airport. On the same day, the shuttle bus with İGA personnel on board rolled over, leaving workers wounded. (TP/SD)