London City airport declared safe after ‘chemical incident’ | Reuters

By Stephen Addison | LONDON LONDON London City airport was declared safe on Friday after hundreds of passengers had to be evacuated and two were taken to hospital with breathing difficulties in a suspected chemical incident.The airport was briefly closed as police and firefighters in protective equipment swept the terminal building of the airport with chemical detectors after several people were taken ill, some of them coughing violently."Two complete sweeps of the airport building were carried out jointly by firefighters and police officers ..," the fire brigade said. "No elevated readings were found and the building was ventilated, searched and declared safe," it added.The airport later said it had reopened but that flights would be staggered and some disruption was expected.There was no immediate explanation for the incident. Ambulance teams trained in dealing with hazardous substances raced to the airport at around 1500 GMT.Medics said they treated 27 people for breathing difficulties at the airport itself and took two to hospital.Among those caught up in the incident was boxer David Haye who Tweeted: "CityAirport got evacuated when everyone started coughing uncontrollably!" The fire brigade said about 500 people had been evacuated from the terminal of the airport east of London's Canary Wharf financial district, which mostly serves short-haul, European destinations.Photos posted on social media showed many passengers milling around on the tarmac, some sheltering from the rain under the wings of parked planes.The incident came shortly after police said on Friday they had arrested a teenager under terrorism laws following the discovery of a "suspicious item" on a London underground train near Canary Wharf.

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