india

Updated: May 28, 2019 11:33 IST

Bollywood actor Riteish Deshmukh has tweeted about a power cut at the Hyderabad airport and pointed to locked emergency doors, prompting authorities to apologise on Twitter.

The 40-year-old actor tweeted two videos from the lounge of one of the busiest airports in the country, where he got stuck after the power went off.

“So we were at the Hyderabad Airport Lounge - suddenly the power goes off- the way in & out is an elevator that shuts down. The only exit door is locked in a chain (Incase of FIRE it’s a tragedy waiting to happen) (sic),” Riteish Deshmukh tweeted along with two short videos.

“Security personnel refuses to give permission to open the door at the cost of passengers missing their flight. Wake up Hyderabad airport Authority - public exits can’t be locked in case of emergencies,” he wrote.

Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, which manages the operations, quickly responded to Riteish’s tweet, saying in case of an emergency the glass doors could be broken.

“We regret the inconvenience caused. It was a minor technical snag which was resolved immediately. Please be rest assured that our Airport Terminals are safety compliant. In an event of any emergency, the glass doors can be broken. Passenger safety is of utmost importance to us (sic),” RGIA said in reply to Riteish Deshmukh’s tweet.

“Hi Riteish, thank you for your valuable observation. In the current set up, there is a manual lock - the key is placed in a box next to the glass door and can be accessed in case of an emergency,” it said in another tweet.

Twitter users also commented after watching the actor’s videos as some were alarmed at the situation and others said other airports in the country face the same issues.

“That’s not only in Hyderabad airport....I saw this kind of “chain-locked” door in Kolkata airport as well....and yes these doors are not “meant” to be unlocked in any circumstances!!!” Subhadip tweeted.

“This is not in Hydrabad..it is mostly everywhere..atleast in my state also..they don’t allow pessangers to exit Airport without informing & escorted by the staff. So they lock the exit gate. May be it will increase the operating cost if they keep extra staffs at “Exit Door”? sic)” UB also said.

“It’s India, not Europe. They don’t know whatvto follow what not to follow. They don’t do drill, no safety seminars, no professional attitude. They need some serious education in each fields (sic),” another user said in response to the actor’s tweet.

Some even advised the actor to stay calm.

Global air passengers right expert Airhelp ranked the Hyderabad airport as the world’s eighth best airport in term of passenger experience earlier this year. Last year, it was named as the world’s number 1 airport by Montreal-based Airports Council International (ACI) in its Airport Service Quality (ASQ) survey.