Air India Express passenger’s gun discharges at Varanasi airport, injuring two security staff
Two security staff were hurt at Varanasi’s Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport on Sunday after a passenger’s licensed pistol discharged during screenin...
Two security staff were hurt at Varanasi’s Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport on Sunday after a passenger’s licensed pistol discharged during screening. The man was due to fly to Mumbai on an Air India Express service, and the blast of one round turned a routine check into a hospital visit.
The passenger was identified by police as Kamlesh Rai, a resident of Azamgarh district, who had arrived at the airport with his wife for Air India Express flight IX1810. Officers said the weapon went off while security personnel were inspecting the pistol and its ammunition. Quick. And unexpected.
Licensed weapon, routine check, sudden shot
According to a statement from police in the Gomti Zone, the firing was accidental. A female security personnel was hit in the leg, while another person standing nearby suffered an injury to the thumb. Both were taken to a private hospital for treatment.
The incident underscores how even a licensed firearm can turn dangerous at an airport checkpoint, where standard screening procedures are meant to strip away that risk before passengers reach the gate. Airports in India, like those elsewhere, bar weapons from cabin access and rely on declared carriage rules and physical inspection to keep a tight perimeter. Here, that system broke down for a moment. It was enough.
Police officers moved in after the alarm
Senior officers, including the Deputy Commissioner of Police for the Gomti Zone and the Assistant Commissioner of Police, were informed after the discharge, police said. The airport lies in Varanasi, one of India’s busiest religious and domestic travel hubs, and any security lapse there quickly draws attention beyond the terminal. The fact that the passenger was traveling on a domestic Air India Express service only sharpened the focus on how the weapon entered the screening area in the first place.
Air India Express, the low-cost arm of India’s flag carrier group, has recently been in the news for other reasons too, including a one-time substance screening drive across the Air India and Air India Express pilot workforce after a separate aviation incident earlier this month. But on Sunday in Varanasi, the urgent question was simpler: how did a loaded pistol make it to the check point, and who was left to bear the damage? Two people. One shot.