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All employees, passengers and attendants were asked to evacuate for their own safety and normalcy returned after a short while the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority-UCAA started investigating the cause of the fire that broke out at Entebbe International Airport on Tuesday afternoon.
Vianney Luggya, the UCAA spokesperson has since apologized for the inconveniences caused by the fire to the departing passengers and other users at the airport.
He says the fire broke out at around 3pm in the ceiling of the Passenger Terminal Building (Departures area) leading to smoke in the Passenger Waiting Lounges near gates 2A and 2B. According to Luggya, they immediately evacuated the passengers and other users as the UCAA Rescue and Fire Fighting services team put out the fire.
The fire affected some flights such as Emirates that was bound for Dubai, Kenya Airways that was destined for Nairobi and Uganda Airlines that was destined for Juba and Johannesburg. The flights were scheduled to depart when the incident happened.
The passengers were either boarding, waiting at the lounges or checking in between 3-5pm. By 3:45 pm, Luggya said the situation had normalized and passenger operations had resumed. On May 19, two jet fuel tanks caught fire at Entebbe Airport.
Airport authorities on Tuesday evacuated panicked passengers from a waiting lounge at the Entebbe International Airport as emergency services put out a fire.
Although police and the Uganda Civil Aviation Authority said it was a minor incident, the 3pm fire caused panic among passengers who were near the area it broke out.
According to authorities, the fire was caused by a short circuit.
“Passengers and all the other users of Entebbe International Airport were immediately evacuated as the UCAA Rescue and Fire-fighting Services team handled the situation,” said a statement from Mr Vianney Luggya, the spokesperson of the UCAA.