Fire breaks out at Kuwait International Airport
Six firefighting teams in Kuwait are battling a fire at Kuwait International Airport’s still under construction Terminal 2, firefighters told The National.
Authorities have yet to say if the fire has led to casualties but images and video shared by first responders showed thick black smoke billowing from the new building.
The chief of Kuwait’s Fire Force, Col Mohammad Al Ghareeb, told The National the fire started in an area of the Terminal 2 building that is under construction.
Flight tracking data showed planes arriving at and departing from the airport throughout Monday morning. Several early morning flights took off with slight delays, but Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said air traffic was normal and had “not been affected” by the fire.
The $4.3 billion Terminal 2 construction will replace the existing building with a hub able to handle over 25 million passengers a year. It is expected to provide 15,000 jobs for Kuwaitis and construction is supposed to be finished by August this year.
The extent of the fire is yet to be determined as is any delay it may cause to the completion date.
