‘Contained version of 9/11’: Why is London Heathrow Airport’s closure being compared to darkest day in US history?
World: Heathrow Airport in London was forced to shut down for the entire day on Friday after a large fire was reported at a nearby electricity substation.
After more than 1,300 flights were affected by a large fire at an electricity substation near London's Heathrow Airport, the impact has been compared to the 9/11 terror attack or the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud which happened in April 2010.
An aviation expert stressed that it is a "contained version of 9/11" or "the Icelandic volcanic eruption."
The Heathrow Airport in London was forced to shut down for the entire day on Friday after a large fire was reported at a nearby electricity substation. This has caused massive chaos and affected nearly 200,000 passengers.
Also read: Heathrow shuts down: Photo shows 120 flights caught in chaos as planes return to Mumbai, Delhi
“It’s a contained version of 9/11 or, to an extent, the Icelandic volcanic eruption ... that’s the parallel I would make," consultant John Strickland told the British PA News agency.
“I remembered seeing on those occasions—particularly more so on 9/11—it happened so quick, and then U.S. airspace was closed, they were turning back aircraft and holding planes," he added.
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Strickland stressed that Heathrow being such a busy airport and full, "there's no kind of wriggle room for getting out of these kinds of things."
The world's fourth-busiest airport and Europe's busiest airport faced major disruptions as around 70 firefighters sought to put down the blaze at a nearby electrical substation.
Heathrow Express, a train service that connects passengers to the airport from Paddington station in central London, urged customers to "NOT ATTEMPT to travel to the airport under any circumstance."
Britain's energy minister Ed Miliband called the fire "catastrophic" and "unprecedented".
It is “too early to know” what caused the “catastrophic fire,” he said.
Moreover, a driver who witnessed the fire last night told Sky News that it was "absolutely apocalyptic".
"The sky was darkening, and it was just a chaotic scene. It looked like something out of a movie," Adeel Anwar said.
(With inputs from agencies)
