Lucknow: An emergency was averted at the Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow on Saturday after a fluorine leakage in the cargo section of Terminal 3 raised the alarm about a radioactive material. This led to an immediate response from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), which later tweeted that the situation was contained and was not life-threatening.
It was triggered by a shipment of medicines for cancer patients, among which fluorine was found to be a highly reactive and even dangerous component. Fluorine has corrosion properties, is fatal when inhaled, and may cause severe skin burns. The airport authorities did not play any games with such a substance and soon contacted the NDRF, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and the airport’s fire department to check and handle the situation.
Still, in a statement, the airport’s Chief Operating Officer tried to calm the situation, explaining that although the alarm had gone off, the shipment was cleared by the NDRF after their inspection. An official narrated the incident thus: “A shipment of medicines meant for cancer patients triggered an alert of radioactive material in the Cargo section of the Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport, Lucknow. ” However, he rejected the speculation that went viral via different media that there was a casualty, which he, for the record, hastened to clarify was not true because there was no loss of life or any form of injury.
The official also wiped the people’s worries that there were no disturbances in airport operations because of the incident. “The Airport operations are on and have not been affected,” he said, stressing that the situation had been well contained.
This incident highlighted the need to have tight measures on safety precautions and response to dangers that the transfer of substances in sensitive regions like airports may pose.
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