Jomo Kenyatta International Airport was this morning, of 7th august, 2013 closed indefinitely after a fire broke out at the arrival unit. The fire is said to have started at around 5am and paralyzed the take off as well the arrival of aircraft.
By the time of going to press, there were no departures and the flights that were expected to land at JKIA have been diverted to Kisumu International airport and the Moi International Airport in Mombasa.
President Uhuru Kenyatta visited the airport at 9am accompanied by Cabinet Secretaries Ann Waiguru (Devolution), Joseph ole Lenku (Interior) and Michael Kamau (Transport).
According to the Transport Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau, the fire started at the immigration area of the international arrivals and quickly spread to the custom area.
"JKIA's emergency security programme is now in full force and all responding agencies are on the ground to ensure that the situation is normalized as soon as possible. We have been able to evacuate everyone and no injuries have been reported," said Mr Kamau.
He also said that planes that wanted leave without passengers were cleared to take off.
The cause of the fire is yet to be established.
Inspector General of Police confirmed that there were no injuries suffered and that the fire had been contained by 9am.
This comes a day after thousands of passengers were stranded at the airport following cancellation of several flights after a pipeline supplying fuel to the airport malfunctioned.
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