Gatwick passengers evacuated after National Express coach fire

[Lara Mills]

Thousands of Gatwick passengers are evacuated from terminal after National Express coach suddenly bursts into flames



An empty National Express coach caught fire outside the North Terminal
Passengers told to leave after part of the building filled with smoke
Bystanders posted pictures on Twitter and feared it was a terrorist attack
Dozens of firefighters tackled the flames for around an hour
Gatwick Airport confirmed that no flights were delayed by the incident

Thousands of passengers had to be evacuated from Gatwick Airport this afternoon after a coach burst into flames outside.

Smoke could be seen billowing from a pick up point outside the West Sussex airport's North terminal after a National Express coach caught fire shortly after noon.

Passengers posted dramatic pictures of the fire on Twitter and panic set in that it may have been the result of a terror attack with security staff quickly calming passengers down.

The cause of the fire is now being investigated but officials believe that it was most likely an accident.

No one was hurt in the blaze, which destroyed most of the inside of the coach and took an hour for dozens of firefighters to extinguish.

Witness Sophie Burnett told ITV News: 'The fire began around noon. They began by shutting the shops closest like Boots and M&S.

'They then evacuated the whole of North Terminal landside and have stopped all public transport coming over to the terminal including the shuttle and the public bus services.

'They’re currently trying to isolate the smoke from the building.'

Although part of the terminal was evacuated, the check in area was unaffected and no flights were delayed as a result.

Public transport, including a rail shuttle between the north and south terminals, was temporarily suspended.

A Gatwick spokesman later confirmed that the fire had been put out.

He said: 'The fire was on a coach outside the North Terminal building. Some smoke did enter the lower levels of the terminal and we did evacuate people from that area.

'The check-in areas were not affected and the incident did not have an effect on flights.'

A spokesman for West Sussex Fire Service said: 'We sent six fire engines because there was quite a lot of smoke and it had started to drift into parts of the Terminal building.

'It’s believed to have been an electrical or mechanical cause and 80 per cent of the coach was destroyed. It’s pretty damaged.'

A spokesman for National Express said the company had launched its own internal probe into the cause of the fire.

He said: 'We are working closely with the emergency services and will continue to assist them.

'We will also carry out our own thorough investigation to establish the cause of this highly unusual incident.'

More than 34million passengers arrive and depart from Gatwick Airport each year.

More images from witnesses:

Source: click here

[Lara Mills]

Now, I may be a bit different to most people, but if I saw a coach on fire like that I would get out as told, not stop to take pictures and upload them to instagram with the hashtag of #nofilter or crap like that.

Is it just me who would get out, or are you guilty of taking pictures of things like that?