Flights headed to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos, Nigeria have been diverted after fire broke out at the airport in the early hours of Thursday.
A statement by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN, said the incident happened around 5AM local time when smoke was detected coming out from the E54 Bridge. As an emergency response, the facilities engineers cut power supply to the area.
“At 05:29 hrs, smoke was detected billowing from the E54 Bridge, leading electrical engineers to immediately cut off power to the entire E Wing,” the statement signed by Obiageli Orah (Mrs) said.
According to the statement, the Airport Rescue and Firefighting Services was called and they arrived immediately to respond to the situation.
“The Airport Rescue and Firefighting Services (ARFFS) team was quick to respond, arriving at the scene by 05:30 hrs. Initial suspicions point to sparks from an electrical unit as the cause, but a thorough investigation is ongoing to ascertain the cause of the fire.”
Fire fighters took approximately one hour and 11 minutes to bring the fire under control. Authorities said efforts have began to ventilate the smoke from the buildings.
“The incident, which had escalated into a fire, was brought under control by 06:41 hrs. Efforts to ventilate the smoke from the building are in progress.”
As a precaution, “all flight operations in Terminal 1 of MMA have been diverted to the D Wing,” the statement added.
No reasons have been given concerning the cause of the fire but calm has been restored after people took to their heels when the incident occurred.
