Fire scare at Norman Manley Airport
Published:Tuesday | April 6, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Passengers on two flights experienced a slight delay while other persons at the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) were evacuated after a fire scare yesterday afternoon.
"About 1:44, the fire alarm went off and the emergency team responded but, after a sweep of the area, we found there was no fire," Mark Williams, vice-president of commercial and marketing opera-tions at the Airports Authority of Jamaica, told The Gleaner.
"A Caribbean Airlines flight, which was departing, was delayed for 24 minutes while an American Airlines flight had an 18-minute delay on arrival," Williams added.
Minor incident
This is the second fire scare at the NMIA in recent months.
Last October, a minor incident occurred while labourers were working on the roof of the terminal building, resulting in smoke entering the ventilation system and travelling through the main terminal.
No one was injured in that incident but operations at the airport were stalled for more than two hours.
Yesterday, Minister of Transport and Works Mike Henry directed the Airports Authority of Jamaica to immediately begin an investiga-tion, from which a preliminary report is expected by today.