Terminal 4 at London’s Heathrow Airport was evacuated Monday evening local time due to a “possible hazardous material incident.”
According to the airport, Terminal 4’s check-in has been closed and the terminal has been evacuated, while emergency services respond. All other terminals at Heathrow are operating as normal.
Additionally, the airport is asking passengers not to travel to Terminal 4 for the time being.
Large crowds appear gathered outside the terminal:
Flights at Heathrow are running on time for now, including those out of Terminal 4. However, given the large crowds waiting outside and the halted check-in, I imagine some delays will begin popping up in a couple of hours or so, since right now is when passengers for those flights should have been checking in.
In cases like this, where a large bunch of passengers are delayed, airlines often opt to delay the flight and let as many people board as possible instead of having to rebook everyone. Given all of the international carriers at Heathrow’s Terminal 4, I expect this to be the case for many.
Featured image by Heathrow Airport.
