Dozens of passengers were treated for breathing difficulties after a suspected chemical incident at London City Airport on Friday night. Two casualties were taken to hospital and 25 were treated at the scene, London Ambulance Service (LAS) said.
A spokesman for London Fire Brigade (LFB) said it was called to the airport at 4.11pm to “reports of a chemical incident”. About 500 members of the public and airport staff were evacuated. Passengers described the situation as “quite scary”, with airport staff jumping over check-in desks to escape.
The airport was reopened shortly after being declared safe at around 7pm. Passengers were warned that further disruption to flights was expected.
An LFB spokesman said “two complete sweeps of the airport building” were carried out jointly by firefighters and police officers wearing protective equipment. He added: “No elevated readings were found and the building was ventilated, searched and declared safe.”
Medics trained to treat people in hazardous situations also attended the scene. LAS assistant director of operations Paul Gibson said: “All patients were treated for minor breathing difficulties and two were taken to hospital.”
The ambulance service posted a message on Twitter saying they were “very busy” due to the airport incident and urged people to “only call us in a genuine emergency”.
David Morris, who was one of the passengers caught up in the incident, said he was at the check-in desk for his British Airways (BA) flight to Edinburgh when people started coughing.
"We were queuing up and we were just about to check our bags in, and I was talking and started to cough to the point I was not able to keep talking," the 28-year-old told PA. "It was getting quite bad and we saw other people starting to cough at the same time. The people behind the desk were coughing the most and quite aggressively.
“Within two minutes, they shouted for everyone to get out.” Mr Morris said BA staff behind the check-in desk jumped over to escape, calling the situation “quite scary”. He said that whatever was causing people to cough did not smell or have any colour to it. “Everyone was shouting and rushing towards the door,” he added. Once outside, he said those who had been coughing, between 15 and 20 people, were sectioned off and checked over by paramedics.
Travel chaos
The closure of the airport led to travel chaos as all flights were suspended. Several incoming planes from destinations such as Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Belfast City and Paris were diverted to other airports.
A group of Scottish MPs were among the travellers left standing on the airport’s tarmac for more than 90 minutes before being allowed back into the terminal building.
SNP MP Calum Kerr, who was unhappy after a proposed Bill for an automatic pardon for gay men convicted of now-abolished sexual offences was not put to a vote in the House of Commons, said: “This is just the perfect end to a day when we’ve seen democracy let us down and now the transport system has let us down.
“News agencies were reporting a chemical incident, which obviously changed the atmosphere a bit. People are less fraught. It goes from being a pain in the derriere to a case of: ‘Is everybody safe? I hope people are okay’.”
Ross Edgar (28) from Glasgow said he heard an alarm going off at around 4.15pm, resulting in everyone being evacuated from the building. Large queues comprised of hundreds of people, hoping to get into the airport, could be seen making their way around the entrance of the terminal once it had been declared safe.
Airport staff using megaphones informed those waiting of the flights which were cancelled and those which may take off. At least 11 flights were listed as cancelled. Inside the terminal the waiting ensued, as the check-in area continued to heave with people eager to reach their destination. A nearby Travelodge also took the brunt of the chaos, with queues out of the door as those left stranded by the incident tried to find somewhere to stay.
PA