London’s City airport was evacuated after just after 4pm on Friday as the airport experienced a suspected chemical incident following fire alarms going off. 500 passengers and staff were evacuated by police as paramedics treated 25 people at the scene for breathing difficulties and two members of the ground staff were taken to hospital as a precaution.
The airport was closed for 3 hours as air traffic to the airport was stopped or diverted to other airports while police investigated the source of the scare. The Metropolitan Police said they found a tear gas canister which they believe was disposed of by a passenger before checking in and the canister discharged accidentally. The police said they are not treating the incident as terror related.
The airport reopened after 7pm as police declared the terminal safe. An airport spokesman said: “Passengers were evacuated safely and we thank them for their patience.”
