Emergency
London airport shut down due to major fire
Flames in a car park at London Luton Airport. photo
© Bedfordshire Fire And Rescue Ser/PA Media/dpa
Videos on social media show high flames coming from a parking garage. Airport operations were completely stopped.
As the airport announced on Wednesday morning, air traffic should resume in the afternoon. In a message from the afternoon it was said that the first passengers had been allowed back into the terminal.
Four firefighters and an airport employee were taken to hospital after inhaling smoke. Videos on social media from Tuesday evening showed flames coming from the top floor of what appeared to be a full parking garage. Thick clouds of smoke rose.
According to the British news agency PA, an eyewitness described that initially only a single vehicle burned. “A few minutes later, most of the top floor was in flames, car alarms went off with loud explosions of cars going up in flames,” the man was quoted as saying.
According to the BBC, many travelers were initially stranded at the airport because they could not take their flights or because their cars were in the burning parking garage.