Fire at Stansted Airport: Holidaymakers slam airport as 'disgrace' as 'thousands outside in cold' with 'no communication' after evacuation
Stansted Airport has been slammed a “disgrace” as “thousands” of holidaymakers were left “outside in the cold” after a fire forced an evacuation.
A small fire broke out in a lounge early on Wednesday morning. The flames were extinguished by the Airport Fire Service around 3.30am and no passengers were harmed.
The airport said in a statement that the area was immediately evacuated due to a “significant amount of smoke”, despite the quelling of the fire. This led to “thousands” of holidaymakers outside the airport, according to one traveller.
The traveller posted on X just after 5am: “There are thousands of people now outside in the cold, as well as inside. If the fire is out, get us all through. It’s cold, building up quickly, and is becoming more and more unsafe the longer you leave this”.
The user added: “If the fire is out, why are we all still being forced to wait outside? Security is still shut, and there are now thousands of people waiting inside and outside, all before security.” Other holidaymakers also fumed at the situation.
Another wrote on X at 5:44am: “We have been stood outside now in the cold for an hour no communication and no plan it would appear. Surely you do plan for incidents such as this? And will have a senior management team to oversee. This really is so poor - can we get an update on how you will manage this?”.
A third commented: “This is a disgrace. You need to inform your passengers who pay your god damn wages what’s happening, and try telling the truth as to whats going on, if there is a stampede with all those people lives will be lost due to your negligence”.
At 06:00 security had reopened, but the airport warned there could be delays and urged passengers to check the status of their flights. At 6:30am Stansted Airport posted on X that the departure lounge is now open and passengers are being processed through security.
It added: “Flights were not suspended and both departures and arrivals are operating. Some flights may be subject to delays.” However a user on X said it is “disgraceful”.