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Passengers, staff evacuated after fire breaks out at JKIA – VIDEO


Passengers and staff were on Wednesday night evacuated after a fire broke out in one of the terminals at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

A statement by the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) said the fire broke out some minutes to midnight at Terminal 1C Check-in counters 7 and 8.

The authority said the fire was caused by a baggage belt system malfunction.

The fire forced the terminal to be closed after the fire destroyed part of its arrivals unit, KAA said.

“We would like to confirm that at approximately 2344HRS last night (Wednesday), we had a fire incident at JKIA. All passengers and staff at the terminal were evacuated safely and the fire contained by the airport’s fire team. No injuries were reported during the incident,” read the statement.

KAA added that the terminal 1C (T1C) has since been temporarily cordoned off and its flight operations moved to Terminal 1B.

“We regret any inconvenience caused by this incident and would like to assure the general public that we are working to ensure that Terminal 1C is reopened for normal operations as soon as possible,” said KAA.

In October 2018, a fire broke out at the Kenya Pipeline Company depot in JKIA after a lorry that was loading oil sediment bust in flames.

In 2013, a fire at one of the airport’s terminal caused a major service interruption; with flights that were to land at JKIA being diverted to Moi International Airport, Mombasa and Kisumu International Airport.

The fire, according to an independent investigator, was caused by an electric fault, leaving a trail of devastating damage.

The national carrier, Kenya Airways, lost over Sh35 million in the fire.

KAA did not say how many flights had been affected after the incident.