JERSEY Airport has been evacuated with all flights suspected after a “security incident”, with armed cops swooping in.
Police along with firefighters rushed to the island’s airport in the early hours of this morning.
Ports of JerseyTravellers described the airport ‘covered with police’[/caption]
An alarm reportedly went off at around 6.30am, with those inside urgently evacuated to designated assembly points.
Meanwhile, traffic was also diverted away from the area.
Travellers have now been urgently warned by Jersey Police “to avoid attending the airport until further notice”.
In a statement, the Ports of Jersey added: “We apologise for the inconvenience this may cause and appreciate the cooperation and understanding of passengers during this time.
“Our top priority is ensuring the safety and security of everyone at the airport.”
Passengers on scheduled flights have been urged to contact their airlines for updates.
Speaking on BBC Radio Jersey, one passenger, Rena Dunphy, said the airport was “covered with police at the minute”.
She added: “I got through security and at about 06:30 GMT the alarm started going off.
“They just got everyone out to assembly points, kept us there for roughly half an hour and then they got everyone out of the assembly points and into the car parks.”
More than 100 people, including airport staff, chose to wait at the nearby Strive Health Club for updates.
However, they were eventually told to go home until further notice and check the website for more information.
Another passenger, George Bridger, was on the way to a stag do in Dublin.
He told the BBC how he had gone through security and got a drink when the alarms started going off.
George and fellow travellers were escorted out to the car park, he said, adding: “Armed police arrived, fire trucks and lots of police vehicles turned up at the airport, I think we all realised it was a serious matter.”
At a press conference, airport operations director, Ashley Maggs said they were “taking every precaution” amid the concerns.
He added: “The airport has been evacuated this morning due to a significant security incident.
“We are taking this very seriously and we absolutely need to make sure we provide a safe environment for our passengers, so we’re investigating this further.
“All I can say is that we received information and therefore we’ve had to investigate the information and its credibility.
“At the moment it’s deemed as doubtable non-credible but obviously we have to take every precaution.”
BBC Jersey..https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9deg32y07eo?at_campaign_type=owned&at_ptrJersey Airport has been evacuated following a ‘security incident’[/caption] Published: [#item_custom_pubDate]
