Impressive images and paralyzed air traffic. During the night of Tuesday October 10 to Wednesday October 11, a major fire caused the partial collapse of one of the car parks at London’s Luton Airport, causing several injuries. The airport suspended all flights until Wednesday afternoon.
Local ambulance services clarified on X (formerly Twitter) that five people – four firefighters and an airport employee – were admitted to hospital. Another injured person was treated on site, said the same source.
“Firefighting operations are still ongoing, with crews working to dry out the area,” the firefighters said on their website. “Emergency services will remain on scene for several hours. A full investigation will be carried out to determine the cause of the fire,” they added.
Images released overnight by firefighters show flames several meters high rising from one of the top floors of the car park, a very large building. Up to 1,200 vehicles in this parking lot were damaged.
“We have made the decision to suspend all flights until 3:00 p.m.” (4:00 p.m. Paris time), the airport said on X (formerly Twitter), at 7:10 a.m. (8:10 a.m. Paris time). “Our priority remains supporting emergency services and the safety of our passengers and staff.” During the night, the airport announced a suspension until noon local time.
Firefighters from Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service say they received a call at 8:47 p.m. for a fire involving a car on the third floor of an airport car park. “Fire crews were confronted with a rapidly growing fire and declared a major incident at 9:38 p.m.,” they added. “The violent fire quickly spread through the structure” of the building, firefighters explain, which caused “a significant collapse” of this structure. “It is believed that up to 1,200 vehicles were in the car park at the time of the fire and were damaged.”
More than a hundred firefighters were on scene at the height of the fire.
Luton, located around forty kilometers north of central London, saw 13 million passengers pass through in 2022 and is served by the low-cost airlines easyJet, Ryanair and Wizz Air. The infrastructure advised passengers not to go there “because access remains very limited”. She also recommends that passengers contact their airline. Passengers quoted in British media said their flight was canceled after they had already boarded.
This article is originally published on tf1info.fr
