News24 | UPDATE | Cape Town International Airport fire extinguished, but power, IT network affected

Firefighters were on scene at Cape Town International Airport after a fire broke out on Tuesday morning

A fire that broke out inside the Cape Town International Airport building on Tuesday morning, near the international terminal, has been extinguished.

However, News24 understands that the airport’s IT network and power supply have been affected.

When the blaze first broke out, an airport employee said the building was filled with smoke, and suspected that it was an electrical fire.

Another insider told News24 that employees at shops in the building had been evacuated.

While waiting outside the terminal in the evacuation area, sparks could be seen and attempts were being made to douse the flames, the source added.

A notification to carriers, which News24 has seen, stated: “Cape Town International Airport has experienced a fire incident in one of the office wings”.

The notification also stated that the airport remained operational and that the Emergency Coordination Centre had been activated as a precautionary measure.

The baggage reclaim area was among the affected areas, so baggage reclaims were stopped and passengers were redirected to the emergency escape route at immigration, according to an insider.

News24 understands that flights to Cape Town from Johannesburg were halted at 12:10, but resumed around 20 minutes later at five-minute intervals.

The City of Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Service referred News24 to the Airports Company South Africa (ACSA), which had not commented by the time of publication.

More to follow.