Fire forces evacuation of Qantas terminal at Melbourne Airport
Thousands of travellers have had their plans disrupted after a fire forced the evacuation of the Qantas terminal at Melbourne Airport.
The incident unfolded on Friday evening, with Fire Rescue Victoria and the airport's aviation fire teams called to Terminal 1, News.Az reports, citing Australian media.
Qantas planes were brought to a standstill on the tarmac as thousands of passengers inside the airport were forced to leave the terminal.
"The fire has been completely extinguished," a Melbourne Airport spokesperson said.
"The terminal — Terminal 1 only — was evacuated in response to the fire alarms."
She said passengers were returning to the terminal.
She did not say what had caught fire or how.
The ABC's Craig Dixon was on a plane that arrived from Sydney at 7:50pm.
"We landed and were just turning off the runway when we stopped and the captain came on and said we couldn't go further because there was some sort of incident involving a fire and the terminal had been evacuated," he said.
"At least two other flights, maybe three pulled up behind us — it's hard to tell through the rain — and the captain just said there were four flights queued in front of us."
After about an hour, Dixon said the pilot announced that contingency plans had been made and the waiting planes began moving.
However, others were still on the tarmac two hours after landing.
Qantas said flights into and out of the airport had been delayed, but it was unclear how long the disruptions would last.
A number of cancellations were listed, including flights to and from Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide.
Melbourne Airport said the safety of passengers and staff was being prioritised.
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