UK: Fire breaks out at terminal car park of London Luton Airport, flights suspended
Britain's London Luton Airport suspended all flights late Tuesday after a terminal car park was hit by a large fire, local media reported.
The suspension will last until 12 p.m. (2300 GMT) on Wednesday "as emergency services respond to a fire in terminal car park 2, which has now resulted in a partial structural collapse," the airport said in a post on X, formerly Twitter, early on Wednesday.
Efforts are still ongoing to extinguish a serious fire at Luton Airport. We are continuing to protect surrounding airport infrastructure, vehicles and the Luton DART. For anyone whose travel plans may be affected, please refer to the advice being provided by London Luton Airport. pic.twitter.com/tNFo4hvRdX
— Beds Fire and Rescue (@BedsFire) October 11, 2023
"Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport at this time, as access remains severely restricted," it added.
The airport is the fifth largest in the UK after Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester and Stansted.
Update at 3:30 pic.twitter.com/U0a34dnVih
— London Luton Airport (@LDNLutonAirport) October 11, 2023
It reportedly carried more than 13 million passengers in 2022.
Fifteen fire engines attended the blaze which affected half of the multi-storey structure and involved numerous cars, reported BBC.
With no way of returning home, a large number of passengers are currently stranded in Luton.
Many told the BBC that their cars were in the car park.
All the hotels are fully booked and many passengers claim the airlines have simply dumped them.
