Moment car starts burning before fireball destroys hundreds of vehicles and wipes out entire UK airport carpark
Footage shows a car on fire in the car park of Luton Airport just before it exploded, causing a massive fireball that grounded flights and destroyed the whole car park building.
The video is believed to have been taken just after the fire started on the third floor of the car park at Luton Airport’s Terminal 2.
A woman spotted the car on fire as she went to pick up relatives at the airport and started filming.
Advert
She told BBC News: “We saw there is a fire [but] the fire extinguisher from this floor was used so we went to another floor to take another.
“But at that moment when we came to the car it exploded and we couldn’t come near."
The explosion caused the complete closure of the airport and left tens of thousands of passengers facing disruption.
All flights were stopped from taking off and landing as a result of the blaze.
Whilst flights have resumed, there will be some continued disruption as a result of the fire.
More than 100 firefighters attended the scene on October 10, with Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service declaring a major incident, explaining that they believed the blaze to have been accidental.
Hundreds of vehicles were destroyed in the ensuing fireball, which resulted in flights being diverted to Cardiff, Manchester, and Liverpool.
At the time, the chair of Luton Rising, who own the airport, Javeria Hussain told the BBC: "This is a major operation and we are working extremely closely with the operator to ensure it's business as usual for the airport as quickly as possible.
"Disruption is likely to continue until travelling to the airport becomes normal again and passengers should check with their airline."
Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service issued an update yesterday morning that read: "Crews have worked extremely hard throughout the night and into the early morning to control and extinguish the fire.
"Firefighting operations are monitoring the smouldering remains and will continue throughout the day.
"Currently four crews and an aerial appliance remain at the scene, and crews are working in conjunction with the airport fire service."
Chief Fire Officer Andrew Hopkinson said that the blaze was likely started by a diesel-powered vehicle and the most likely cause for the fire is an electrical fault with the car’s 12-volt battery system.
He said that because diesel is much less flammable than petrol, it would have taken ‘intense pressure or sustained flame’ to cause such an explosion.
There will be a full investigation into what happened in due course.
Tom Wood