{"id":186,"date":"2013-08-07T06:56:53","date_gmt":"2013-08-07T06:56:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.silverbirdsafari-africa.com\/blog\/?p=186"},"modified":"2020-09-16T09:30:58","modified_gmt":"2020-09-16T09:30:58","slug":"jomo-kenyatta-international-airport-closed-down-after-a-huge-fire-broke-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.silverbirdsafari-africa.com\/blog\/jomo-kenyatta-international-airport-closed-down-after-a-huge-fire-broke-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Closed Down After A Huge Fire Broke Out"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The fire at the JKIA broke out shortly before 5 am at the arrivals terminal. The fire has since been contained.
\nArrival and take off of planes have been affected after the fire broke out shortly before 5 am at the arrivals terminal. The fire has since been contained.<\/p>\n

There is no departure while flights that were to land at JKIA are being diverted to Moi International Airport, Mombasa and Kisumu International Airport.<\/p>\n

The cause of the fire was not immediately established but major services were affected and staff were evacuated.<\/p>\n

Officials at the Kenya Airports Authority, which runs the airport, said no injury has been reported.<\/p>\n

President Uhuru Kenyatta visited the airport to inspect damage caused by fire.<\/p>\n

Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau said JKIA has been closed indefinitely and efforts were being made to evacuate the airport.<\/p>\n

Interior & Coordination of National Government Joseph Ole Lenku said security has been heightened at the airport and efforts were being done to ensure operations resume as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will try our best to open the airport as it cannot be close for long but we cannot compromise security,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He said flights coming into JKIA have been diverted to Mombasa and transiting passengers have been taken to hotels.<\/p>\n

Kenya Airport Authority (KAA) head of security Eric Kiraithe has called on the public to avoid the affected area to allow emergency services to do their work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fire is huge and we do not know what caused it. Let the public avoid the area,\u201d said Kiraithe.<\/p>\n

Other officials said the fire started from the immigration desk before spreading fast to other areas.<\/p>\n

The airport was sealed off as emergency services were scrambled. Ambulances were seen leaving the airport and it is not clear if they were carrying casualties.<\/p>\n

Officials at the Kenya Airports Authority, which runs the airport, also confirmed that no injury had been reported.<\/p>\n

The fire fighters at the airport were overwhelmed forcing them to seek the help from the private sector and the Nairobi City Council.<\/p>\n

Interior Principle Secretary Mutea Iringo said they were monitoring and coordinating the response services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are there and monitoring the situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Another senior security official said there was confusion at the airport but all was being done to put out the fire.<\/p>\n

The fire happened a day after thousands of passengers were on Monday night stranded at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport after a hitch with fuel supply to planes.<\/p>\n

Several flights were cancelled after the pipeline supplying fuel to the airport malfunctioned. It is definitely going to affect operations again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The fire at the JKIA broke out shortly before 5 am at the arrivals terminal. The fire has since been contained. Arrival and take off of planes have been affected after the fire broke out shortly before 5 am at the arrivals terminal. The fire has since been contained. There is no departure while flights […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[806,768,14,767,764,786,805,7,807,765,6,15,763,4,808,175,811,843,778,801,802,782,836,776,785,841,775,66,3,772,842,1,779,784,799,5],"tags":[57,59,58],"class_list":["post-186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adventure","category-adventure-travel-2","category-africa-cup-of-nations","category-best-holiday-destinations","category-best-tour-destinations","category-central-tourism","category-desert-safari","category-destination-reviews","category-discovery","category-exotic-getaways","category-food-culture","category-football","category-honeymoon-destinations","category-kenya-safaris","category-kisumu","category-lamu","category-luxury-lodges","category-malaysia","category-malindi-2","category-mombasa-north-coast-acc","category-mombasa-south-coast-acc","category-nairobi","category-photography-safari","category-romantic-escape","category-summer-holiday","category-tanzania-safari","category-team-building","category-travel-news","category-travel-tips","category-tsavo-kenya","category-uganda-safaris","category-uncategorized","category-watamu-2","category-western-kenya","category-wildlife-conservation","category-wildlife-safaris","tag-jkia","tag-jkia-fire","tag-jkiafire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.silverbirdsafari-africa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.silverbirdsafari-africa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.silverbirdsafari-africa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.silverbirdsafari-africa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.silverbirdsafari-africa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.silverbirdsafari-africa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4828,"href":"https:\/\/www.silverbirdsafari-africa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186\/revisions\/4828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.silverbirdsafari-africa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.silverbirdsafari-africa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.silverbirdsafari-africa.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}