Leeds Bradford Airport (LBA) was thrown into turmoil after an "unplanned fire alarm" forced hundreds to queue outside on a "hot, sweaty day" while the airport was evacuated.
Photos show hundreds of passengers standing outside the airport, between parked cars under the glare of the scorching weather. One passenger says he was made to wait outside for over an hour in the heat, and claims others must have been there for a couple of hours at least.
But LBA say passengers were forced outside for safety precautions and no passengers missed their flights. Security staff are looking into who or what set off the unplanned fire alarm at 12.40pm today (June 20).
Read more: Passengers slam LBA 'hell' and 'disgrace' as chaos queues continue
One disgruntled passenger David Fergus had been waiting for his 4.20pm flight to Vilnius. The Hull man was not expecting to have to pull out the sun cream early, he took to social media to vent his frustrations.
Posting the airport pictures on Twitter, David said: "Just to add to the airport fun, fire alarm at Leeds Bradford Airport has everyone queueing outside."
The bemused passenger spoke to LeedsLive after he managed to board his flight on time. He wasn't happy luggage was being loaded minutes after the flight was supposed to be airborne.
David said: "On board now, but stood around for over a hour, then they called people back in by flight number! Believe it was a fire alarm someone may have set off. I was waiting to go in to fly to Vilnius. And all on a hot, sweaty day!
"Hundreds were stood around outside. Think some people would have been outside for a couple of hours at least."
LBA has stated the fire alarm was triggered at 12.40pm and there were no planned fire drills at this time. Passengers were evacuated inline with their safety protocols.
Several flights had to be delayed to give passengers time to board but no passengers missed their flights.
A spokesperson for LBA said: “LBA was evacuated early this afternoon due to an unplanned fire alarm. We are investigating the cause of the alarm. LBA staff returned the terminal to normal operations rapidly after the incident and no passengers missed their flights due to the alarm.”
All normal operations have since recommenced following the incident.
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