Thick black smoke rose from Haneda Airport in Tokyo on Monday morning (29 Sept) after a fire broke out in a building that was under demolition.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and the Tokyo Fire Department said they received an emergency call shortly after 9am reporting smoke from the site.
Source: 共同通信 KYODO NEWS on YouTube
According to local news reports, the fire occurred at an old hangar owned by the private company Airport Facilities Co.
The building, once used as an aircraft hangar, was being dismantled at the time of the incident.
It is located about 1.5km northwest of Haneda Airport’s Terminal 3 and roughly 200m from Seibijo Station on the Tokyo Monorail.
Authorities dispatched 34 fire engines and other vehicles to the scene.
The blaze was brought under control after about two hours, but roughly 900 sqm of the building’s roof area were destroyed.
Source: 読売新聞オンライン動画 on YouTube
At the time of the fire, 26 workers were inside the hangar.
Fortunately, all of them managed to evacuate safely and no injuries were reported.
Police said workers had been using blowtorches to cut steel beams near the roof shortly before the blaze broke out.
Investigations are under way to determine the exact cause.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism’s Tokyo Airport Office confirmed that the fire did not cause any delays or cancellations of flights.
Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways (ANA) also reported no immediate impact on their operations.
However, both carriers said they are continuing to assess whether the incident could affect future runway usage or flight schedules.
Also read: Japan Airlines Plane Catches Fire On Haneda Airport Runway, All 379 On Board Evacuated
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Featured image adapted from The Sankei Shimbun and NHK.