LONDON, England
Britain's Heathrow Airport has completely shut down and will be closed all day on Friday following a large fire at a nearby electrical substation knocked out power to one of the world's busiest airports.
"To maintain the safety
of our passengers and colleagues, Heathrow will be closed until 23h59 on 21
March," Heathrow Airport said in a post on X, adding that "passengers
are advised not to travel to the airport and should contact their airline for
further information."
Scores of flights were already
being diverted to land at other airports.
According to flight tracking
website FlightRadar24, at the time of the airport's closure, "120 aircraft
were in the air that will be diverting to alternate airports or returning to
their origins."
A Qantas flight arriving from
Perth, Australia, was diverted to Paris' Charles de Gaulle while a United
Airlines flight from New York was due to land in Ireland's Shannon instead,
news agencies reported.
Some flights from the US were
turning around mid-air and returning to their point of departure, according to
the Reuters news agency.
Other flights from as far
afield as Lagos, Johannesburg and Singapore were being diverted to nearby
Gatwick Airport.
Heathrow, Europe's
busiest airport, handles more than than 80 million passengers a year.
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