Licensed Pistol Fires During Screening at Varanasi Airport; Two Staff Injured

Two airport security screeners were injured on Sunday morning when a licensed pistol discharged during the mandatory verification of a passenger’s weapon at Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in Babatpur. Airport officials said neither employee was in critical condition, while local police began examining how a live round was fired inside the screening area.

The incident occurred at around 9.30 am as a passenger and his wife prepared to travel to Mumbai on Air India Express flight IX-1810. The passenger, identified in reporting as Kamlesh Rai of Azamgarh, had declared the licensed weapon for carriage. Such weapons are not simply placed in ordinary cabin baggage: airline and security personnel verify documents, inspect the firearm and account for the ammunition before accepting it under prescribed procedures.

During that inspection and the counting of rounds, the pistol went off. One screener suffered an injury to the leg and another was struck in the thumb, according to the initial account. Both were taken to New Laxmi Trauma Centre for treatment. Airport Director Puneet Gupta said the discharge happened during regular screening and confirmed that the two employees were stable. The matter was handed to local police for investigation.

The employees were working for AAICLAS, the Airports Authority of India’s cargo and logistics subsidiary, according to the report. Investigators will now need to establish who was handling the weapon at the precise moment of discharge, whether its chamber had been cleared, and whether every step in the declaration and verification process was followed. CCTV from the screening point, the firearm licence, ammunition count and statements of those present should help reconstruct the sequence without speculation.

For passengers, the episode is a reminder that declaring a firearm is only the first part of safe carriage. A weapon should reach an airport unloaded, secured in an appropriate case and accompanied by valid documentation. Ammunition must be packed and declared according to the airline’s rules. Travellers should never manipulate a weapon inside the terminal unless instructed by authorised personnel in a controlled setting.

The discharge did not lead to a wider security threat, and the initial official account described it as accidental. Even so, an accidental shot in a busy terminal is a serious safety failure. The police inquiry should determine responsibility and identify whether training, handling space or the verification checklist needs strengthening. Until that work is complete, claims about exactly whose action caused the pistol to fire should be treated as unconfirmed. The immediate priority remains the recovery of the two injured screeners and a transparent review that prevents a repeat at one of eastern Uttar Pradesh’s busiest airports.