Metal struts blamed for airport disaster

The Paris airport terminal collapse that killed four people in May was probably caused by metal struts piercing the building’s concrete roof, an official report said today.

The French Transport Ministry said preliminary findings suggested that the “dominant cause” of the partial collapse of the new terminal 2E at Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport was “linked to the perforation of the vault by the struts”.

It also blamed the poor quality of the concrete for the May 23 disaster, in which falling masonry killed four travellers – two Chinese, one Czech and one Lebanese. Three others were injured.

“It’s probable that this perforation was made possible by the gradual deterioration of the concrete,” the ministry’s statement said.

A commission of inquiry into the collapse is using modelling techniques and laboratory analysis of the debris to establish the cause of the disaster.

Its final report, for which no date has yet been set, will determine whether the £500m (€746.4m) building will be repaired or torn down.

Completed in 2002, the new terminal was a key element in the development strategies of the airport’s operator, Aeroports de Paris, and its main customer, Air France.