Thousands evacuated from Gatwick Airport over police incident

Thousands of people were evacuated from Gatwick Airport for several hours after a ‘suspect package’ was found this morning.

Passengers filled the area around the South Terminal as the bomb squad investigated a ‘suspected prohibited item in luggage’, which they then ‘made the package safe’, police said.

Two passengers were briefly detained before being allowed to continue their journeys.

Gatwick has since reopened the South Terminal, but passengers were told to expect continuing delays and cancellations as a result of the disruption.

In a statement, the airport said: ‘Following the earlier security alert, London Gatwick Airport is now open and flights are operating from both terminals. Due to the earlier disruption, we are currently in recovery and seeing some longer than usual queues at security.’

Police said: ‘Safety of the public, staff and other airport users has been our priority throughout the operation, and we thank them for their patience while the incident was ongoing.’

The force had been called to the UK’s second busiest airport around 8.20am on a day when 100,000 people were expected to travel through it.

Airport bosses had ordered the evacuation of the south terminal – one of two at Gatwick – at around 9am.

Passengers who had not cleared security were required to evacuate at around 10.30am.

Video and pictures from the scene show chaotic scenes while one person said they were told to leave after going through customs.

The south terminal reopened and the security alert was cleared at around 3pm, with the airport saying: ‘The earlier security alert has now been resolved and cleared by police.

‘The south terminal is reopening to staff and will be open to passengers shortly.

‘Trains will also start calling at Gatwick Airport once the terminal is fully reopened.

‘We would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding while this situation was resolved. Safety and security is always our top priority.’

One passenger, Caitlin Paul, 25, from Surrey, is meant to be flying to New York today and told Metro she has not been told anything by airport staff.

She said: ‘They’ve not told us anything which is a bit disconcerting, but they just keep moving us further and further away.

‘We‘ve also seen search dogs being taken into the building. There are also several undercover police cars arriving.

‘We were just in the security queue and it was moving very slowly. Suddenly they asked us to turn around and go through the other doors.

‘People thought it meant we were going to a new security queue but it was because they were evacuating us.

‘First they told us to wait in the arrivals bit inside the building, but then about five minutes later they started shouting to leave via the nearest exit, and everyone started panicking a little bit.’

Caitlin described how she has been left feeling ‘gutted’ because she has no idea whether she will make it to New York for her holiday.

Because of the freezing temperatures, Caitlin said airport staff are handing out heat bags and foil to people.

She added: ‘It doesn’t look like we’ll be allowed in any time soon.

‘It’s frustrating because we’re not being told anything – we understand that they can’t disclose too much information, but it’s quite scary not being told anything.’

Production engineer Marco Pajo, 46, was due to get on a flight to Malta at around 10am when Gatwick airport was evacuated after the security alert.

He told Metro: ‘I was about to go through security when someone shouted for everyone to get out immediately. Someone said they had found something as people passed through security checks.

‘Bomb disposal and armed police arrived. The whole airport and train station is closed.

‘There has not been much information but I travel a lot for work and this seems serious.

‘They have given us foil blankets and water but my luggage is already checked in but I cannot leave. It’s frustrating but this seems like a big deal.’

Laurence Kembell-Cook, one of the last passengers evacuated from south terminal, has been waiting for hours within sight of the aircraft meant to be taking him and his family on holiday.

The Londoner told Metro he can see the pilots supposed to be flying them to Portugal but had not been given any information about when the flight will be departing.

Laurence, founder and CEO of clean-tech company Pavegen, said: ‘When we got here there was a huge queue and they said it would be an hour and a half to get through security. Because we’ve got a baby and we were running a bit late they let us go to the front of the queue.

‘We found out our flight was a bit delayed and I was sitting in Pret while my partner was changing the baby, when one of the staff runs up to me and says, “evacuate the terminal now, evacuate the terminal now”.

‘Everyone ran out of Pret while I was getting my bags together. I ran down to meet my family and we were among the last people left along those who are elderly and needed assistance.

‘As we rushed out we were ushered towards gates 10-85 and then to the actual gate where our flight is and since then we’ve been waiting.

‘There’s a barricade of security officials in fluorescent jackets where the main terminal interfaces the gate and there’s been no news at all.’

Laurence, who was supposed to be flying out for the weekend with his wife and their 14-month-old baby, is now waiting in the final holding area at the gate.

The dad added: ‘No one knows much other than that there’s thought to have been suspect package earlier this morning.’

Samantha Edgar, 53, from Kent, is meant to be flying to Orlando today and arrived at the airport on time and got through security at 8am this morning.

She told Metro: ‘We’d be in the lounge for about half an hour before security came in and closed the outside area down.

‘They said all areas had been closed down due to a security risk and we were then told by another passenger that check-in and security lines had been closed down as well.

‘We all had to evacuate and I overheard security talking to a member of staff who asked should they leave the heaters on.

‘Security said no because it would be a good few hours before they would be reopening.

‘All we were told was to go down to the main level of the terminal and follow directions from staff.’

Lakiem Khan, who runs a cab company, told Metro that the airport was under the ‘highest possible’ security alert.

He said that armed police, the fire brigade, a bomb disposal unit and sniffer dogs are at the scene, with flights and trains cancelled and only emergency service vehicles allowed in or out.

Lakiem also filmed emergency cars with ‘Nilo’ on the back, referring to National Inter-Afency Liason Officers, who are vetted, security-cleared responders.

He said: ‘It’s chaotic but staff are consoling passengers and handing out water and warming blankets to all the evacuees.’

National Rail has asked people to avoid travelling to the station while this incident is ongoing.

The airport has reassured passengers that the north terminal is still open.

It urged passengers who have flights departing from the south terminal to check the status with their airlines.

A Sussex Police spokeseperson said: ‘Police were called to the South Terminal at Gatwick Airport at 8.20am on Friday (22 November) following the discovery of a suspected prohibited item in luggage.

‘To ensure the safety of the public, staff and other airport users, a security cordon has been put in place whilst the matter is dealt with.

‘As a precaution, an EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team is being deployed to the airport.

‘This is causing significant disruption and some roads around the South Terminal have been closed. We’d advise the public to avoid the area where possible.’

A Gatwick spokesperson said: ‘A large part of the South Terminal has been evacuated as a precaution while we continue to investigate a security incident.

‘Passengers will not be able to enter the South Terminal while this is ongoing.

‘Safety and security of our passengers and staff remains our top priority. We are working hard to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.

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