Chaos as flights are delayed and Ryanair passengers claimed their plane left them behind as thousands of holiday-makers are evacuated from Luton Airport for a fire alarm
- Flights were delayed by more than an hour after the fire alarm sounded at Luton
- Thousands of holiday-makers had to be evacuated from the terminal
- Ryanair passengers for Marrakesh claimed that their plane left them behind
Chaos erupted at Luton airport this morning after a fire alarm sounded, forcing thousands of holiday-makers to evacuate, delaying flights for over an hour and leading passengers to claim their Ryanair plane left them behind.
Footage shows crowds rushing through the terminal out of the airport as an announcement warns people to leave at the nearest available exit.
Flights were delayed for over an hour after the siren was accidentally sounded by a tourist at 7.15am this morning, causing travellers to crowd out of the terminal.
Thousands of holiday-makers were briefly evacuated from Luton Airport this morning after a passenger accidentally triggered the fire alarm
Tourists pictured here crowding outside Luton airport. A Ryanair flight to Marrakesh was delayed by almost two hours after the alarm was set off while easyJet flights to Berlin and Barcelona were delayed by an hour
One passenger has claimed on twitter that their Ryanair flight to Marrakesh left them behind, although the company has denied this.
A Ryanair flight to Marrakesh was delayed by almost two hours, only managing to get into the air at 9.44am.
Among some of the worst affected was a Vueling flight to Amsterdam and easyJet flights to Berlin and Barcelona, which were all delayed by up to an hour.
WizzAir flights to Larnaca and Warsaw were also delayed by an hour.
Disruption to flights is expected to continue at the airport for the rest of the day.
One passenger for the Marrakesh flight tweeted that the flight ‘has decided to leave half of the passengers stranded in fire evacuation at Luton airport behind’, although this was denied by the company.
Passengers crowded outside the airport at 7.15am this morning and waited for 20minutes before being brought back inside. The airport said it was not aware of any passengers missing their flight
A second passenger had also tweeted: ‘Ryanair your 8am flight from Luton to Marrakesh just left without 110 people and their luggage due to a fire alarm in Luton airport.
‘What is being done for us that missed the flight?’
A spokesman for the company said the flight left with all its passengers after a ‘delay ahead of take-off due to a security alarm’.
Luton airport has said it is not aware of any passengers missing their flights.
In video of the evacuation the recorder can be heard saying: ‘Exits locked and no staff to assist thousands of passengers trying to exit the building.’
‘Further to that, alarms in different parts of building giving out different advice.’
Britain’s fifth-busiest airport said the terminal was evacuated for 20minutes after it was accidentally triggered.
‘We would like to thank them for their patience and apologise for any inconvenience.’
Passengers waiting for instructions outside the airport. Ryanair has denied that anyone missed its flight to Marrakesh
They were ushered back into the terminal after leaving for 20 minutes at 7.15am this morning