Five hospitalized in a fire in a parking lot at London Luton Airport

2023-10-11 08:18:02

LONDON (AP) — A massive fire spread through a newly built parking lot at one of London’s international airports early Wednesday, and four firefighters and an airport employee were hospitalized for smoke inhalation.

All flights from Luton Airport were suspended until 3pm on Wednesday, the airport said in a statement. Passengers were asked to avoid the location because emergency crews were still working and access was restricted.

Luton, regarding 56 kilometers (35 miles) north of central London, is a hub for affordable airlines such as easyJet and Ryanair.

In addition to the five hospitalized, a sixth person was treated at the scene.

Videos shared on social media and British media websites showed police and fire vehicles gathered outside a multi-storey car park, with the top floor engulfed in flames.

The Terminal 2 parking lot partially collapsed following the fire started around 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday.

Russell Taylor, 41, an accounts director, saw the flames following landing in Luton from Edinburgh. He told the PA news agency that he had first seen a couple of fire engines and a car on fire on an upper level.

“Within a few minutes, they had lit up most of the upper floors, you might hear car alarms and loud explosions from cars bursting into flames,” said Taylor, a resident of Kinross, Scotland. “The speed at which the fire spread was incredible.”

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