A great fire near Heathrow Airport in London eliminated power on Friday at the busy flight center in Europe, forcing it to close all day and alter world trips by hundreds of thousands of passengers.
At least 1,350 flights from and to Heathrow were affected, the flight -flight monitoring service was said, and the impact is likely to take several days, as passengers are trying to re -program their travels and airlines work to get planes and crews in the right places.
Authorities do not know what the fire caused, but so far they have found that they have no evidence that was suspicious.
Residents west of London described listening to a great explosion, followed by a fire ball and clouds of smoke, when the fire was dragged by the electric substation near the airport.
About 120 flights were in the air when the closure was announced, with some turned and others diverted to Gatwick airport outside London, Charles de Gaulle Airport near Paris or Shannon Airport in Ireland, showed the follow -up services.
Lawrence Hayes was three -quarters of the road to London from New York when Virgin Atlantic announced that they turned to Glasgow.
« It was a red eye flight and I had already had a full day, so I don’t even know how long I’ve been, » Hayes told the BBC when he got off the Scotland plane. « Luckily I managed to take -me with my wife and reserved a train ticket to return to Euston, but it will be an incredibly long day. »
Heathrow is one of the busiest airports in the world for international travel. It was more common in January in the early year this year, with more than 6.3 million passengers, more than 5 percent of the same period last year.
However, the interruption on Friday was reduced to the 2010 eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano of Iceland, which caused ash clouds in the atmosphere and created for months the trans-anthlantic chaos of aerial travel.
Get daily national news
Get the main holders of the current political, economic and current news, delivered to your inbox once a day.
Fire under control but impact in recent days
It was too early to determine what caused the huge combustion about 2 kilometers (3 kilometers) of the airport, but there is no « suggestion » of a gross play, said Energy Secretary Ed Miliband.
According to officials, the London Fire Brigade led the investigation with the help of Metropolitan Police. A person who knew the research said that detectives against terrorism were also involved, of course, because the cause was unknown. They spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
Miliband said that the fire, which took seven hours in control, also eliminated a backup electricity supply to the airport. Heathrow said in a statement that he had no choice but to close the airport during the day.
« We look forward to a significant interruption over the coming days and passengers should not travel to the airport in any case until the airport reopens, » said the airport.
Heathrow was in the heart of a shorter interruption in 2023 when the Britain’s Air Traffic Control System was affected by a breakdown that stopped sheets and landings throughout the United Kingdom on one of the busiest travel days of the year.
Anita Mendiratta, aviation consultant, said that the impact of the closure will be heard two to four days as airlines, carriers and crews move to the position and passengers reserved.
« As soon as the airport opens at midnight tonight, it is not just a matter of resuming tomorrow’s flights, but it is the setback and implications that have taken place, » said Mendiratta. « The crew and the planes, many are not where they are supposed to be right now. So the recalculation of this will be intense. »
Diverted, canceled and in Limbo
At Heathrow, a family of five traveling to Dallas, he was hoping that his flight house, still listed as a delay, would take off.
But when Andrea Sri brought his brother, sister -in -law and his three children to the airport, police told them he would not want.
« It was a waste of time. Very confusing, » said Sri, who lives in London. « We tried to contact British Airways but do not open the telephone line until 8 am »
Travelers who turned to other cities found themselves trying to reserve trips to London. Qantas Airlines sent flights from Singapore and Perth, Australia to Paris, where he said would be the people of London, a process that also included a train shuttle under the English channel.
The Ryanair Budget Airline, which does not work outside Heathrow, said he added eight « rescue flights » between Dublin and Stansted, another London airport, to transport passengers stuck on Friday and Saturday.
The National Railway canceled all trains from and from the airport.
Flights usually begin to land and take off in Heathrow at 6 am due to night flight restrictions. But the sky was silent on Friday morning.
« Living near Heathrow is noisy, there are planes every 90 seconds or so, in addition to the traffic, but you are used to leaving, » said James Henderson, who has lived next to the airport for more than 20 years. « Today is different, you can listen to the birds singing. »
Blaze lit the sky and darkened the houses
Matthew Muirhead worked on Heathrow on Thursday night when he left with a colleague and noticed the smoke coming out of a electric substation and heard the sirens crying.
« We saw a brilliant flash of white and all the lights of the city came out, » he said.
The London Fire Brigade sent 10 engines and about 70 firefighters to control the combustion and about 150 people were evacuated from their homes near the power station.
« This was a very visible and significant incident, and our Firefighters worked tirelessly in difficult conditions to put the fire under control as quickly as possible, » said Assistant Commissioner Pat Goubourne.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said in a publication in X, the electrical interruption affected more than 16,300 homes.
The United Kingdom government earlier this year approved the construction of a third runway to the airport to promote the economy and connectivity with the world.
Leave a Reply