Terminal 1C at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) was temporarily closed following a fire that broke out on Wednesday night.
A statement by the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) revealed that the inferno broke out at around 11.44pm and was caused by what was dubbed as a baggage-belt-system glitch.
"We would like to confirm that at approximately 2344HRS last night, we had a fire incident at JKIA Terminal 1C’s Check-inn counters 7 and 8 caused by a baggage belt system malfunction," an excerpt from a tweet by the authority revealed.
KAA also revealed that the late night fire affected check inn counters 7 and 8 at terminal 1C hence forcing the temporal closure, and all its operations moved to Terminal 1B.
"Terminal 1C (T1C) has since been temporarily cordoned off and it’s flight operations moved to Terminal 1B," KAA revealed in a tweet.
The authority affirmed that all passengers and staff had been safely evacuated after the fire broke out and that there were no reported injuries.
The officials went on to add that the airport's fire team were swift in their response and were successful in containing the fire.
Terminal 1C which has since been cordoned off handles international departures.
In 2013, a fire at one of the airport’s terminal caused a major service interruption; with flights that were to land at JKIA being diverted to Moi International Airport, Mombasa and Kisumu International Airport.
The fire, according to an independent investigator, was caused by an electric fault, leaving a trail of devastating damage.
Update: 11:21am
The KAA confirmed that normal services have resumed at Terminal 1C.
"Operations have resumed at JKIA’s Terminal 1C following last night’s minor fire incident that affected the terminal’s counters 6 and 7. The terminal is currently servicing Departure flight operations by Etihad, Air Arabia, Rwand Air, Ethopian and Swiss Intl. Airlines," the authority affirmed in a tweet.
