London’s Heathrow Airport has reopened Terminal 4 after it was evacuated on Monday evening (Sept 8) following reports of a possible hazardous materials incident.
Emergency services rushed to the scene, with firefighters, paramedics, and police carrying out checks. The London Fire Brigade later confirmed it was standing down, and police said no dangerous substances were found.
The temporary shutdown disrupted passengers traveling through one of Europe’s busiest airports. Heathrow apologized for the inconvenience, posting on X that staff were “doing everything we can” to keep flights running on schedule.
During the incident, paramedics treated 21 people, with one taken to hospital. The exact cause of the scare has not been disclosed.
Video clips shared online showed crowds of travelers waiting outside the terminal, though Heathrow’s website continued to list flights departing during the disruption.
Terminal 4, which handles both European and long-haul flights, was declared safe later that night and reopened to passengers.
This isn’t the first major disruption for Heathrow this year. In March, the airport was forced to shut down completely after a fire at a nearby power substation cut electricity, grounding flights and stranding thousands of travelers worldwide. Photo by GBR7051, Wikimedia commons.