Stansted Airport evacuated in safety alert as road closed by chemical leak
PASSENGERS were evacuated from Stansted Airport after a safety alarm was triggered.
Stansted Airport
Those waiting to catch flights were rushed out of the terminal at the airport in Essex shortly before 1pm on Wednesday.
Crowds were seen building outside the departures entrance this afternoon.
Passengers leave the terminal
Twitter users at the airport quickly took to the social media platform to spread the news.
Lynn Phillips, using the Twitter handle Moth4thestar, said: "Just evacuated Stansted Airport."
In a separate incident near the airport, Stansted firefighters were called to tackle a chemical leak from a lorry.
Passengers leave Stansted Airport
Three fire crews said they cleared 600kg of the chemical ammonium nitrate from the eastbound carriageway of the A120 which runs between Stansted and Dunmow.
A spokesman for Stansted Airport told Express.co.uk: "The airport has now re-opened.
"It was a false fire alarm triggered in the disabled loo, which could have been caused by a number of things.
Fire crews tackle the chemical leak
"No flights were affected and passengers were only evacuated for a short periodof time, some ten minutes, while the cause of the alarm was investigated."
The chemical leake was cleared by 11.15am.