Heathrow Airport in chaos as terminal evacuated and passengers left stranded

Chaotic scenes were pictured at Heathrow Airport on Friday morning, with passengers being evacuated from one of its terminals. The area was cleared as a precaution and controlled re-entry into Terminal 2 followed, with the incident having been resolved.

A Heathrow spokesperson said: “This morning our teams worked with emergency services to respond to an incident in Terminal 2 which has now been resolved.

"We ask passengers to check with their airline if flying from Terminal 2, the rest of the airport is operating normally.”

Confused and frustrated travellers took to X to document the disruption, with one person adding: "UK Labour have been in charge for 5 mins and the country has ground to a halt."

Unconfirmed reports suggest a suspicious package or abandoned luggage have been identified. Another said: "Can some one tell us what is happening at terminal 2 please?"

Images shared on social media show crowds of people gathered inside the airport, including enormous queues for security, while others showed police with sniffer dogs roaming outside before the terminal was reopened. Passengers also reported a "crush" when the terminal reopned.

The queue for security is currently suggested to take about an hour and a half, depsite the airport's website giving an estimated wait time of just five minutes.

The chaos is likely to affect the thousands of England supporters set to travel to Germany in time for the Euro 2024 quarter final match on Saturday.

Mark Pusey, 44, told Mail Online that he was at the airport for his journey to Leipzig, Germany, but now fears he will miss his connecting flight to Frankfurt as a result of a 20-minute delay. He described some of the terminals as "pandemonium" with people "running all over the place."

"They shut the terminal and nobody will tell us why... There is just a complete lack of information. Nobody has said anything. Every time I asked staff a question they reply with 'I can't tell you'."

Mark added: "When they finally opened the terminal up there was people getting crushed and stood on. People were leaving their partners behind to get on escalators.

"It was frantic and it just seemed like nobody was really in control or in charge. There were no announcements, nothing."

According to live departure information boards, gates at Terminal 2 remain open for pending flights but some flights have been delayed, or even cancelled.

One passenger took to X to add that the captain on his flight "just announced authorities are now deplaning aircraft one by one".

Terminal 2 at Heathrow is known as the Queen’s Terminal and its new design sought to produce 40 percent fewer carbon dioxide emissions than the building it replaced. All European carriers except Icelandair use terminal 2A, while all international carriers use terminal 2B. Terminal 1 closed to passengers in 2015, with the plan to extent Terminal 2 at a later date.