Flights diverted as fire breaks out at Lagos airport

By Mark Ogagan

A fire has broken out at the E54 Passenger Air Bridge at the domestic wing of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos State, Nigeria.

Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Obiageli Orah, made this known in a statement on Thursday.

Orah stated that the incident happened at 5:29 a.m. on Thursday, and flight operations out of Terminal 1 of the Airport have been diverted to the D Wing of the facility.

She, however, said the Airport Rescue and Firefighting Services (ARFFS) brought the fire under control at 06:41 a.m. while efforts were in progress to ventilate the smoke from the building.

“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 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.

“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. In the meantime, all flight operations in Terminal 1 of MMA have been diverted to the D Wing. More details will follow shortly,” the statement reads,