Glasgow Airport evacuated as burning car hits terminal
30.06.07
A four-wheel-drive vehicle raced across a central reservation and rammed into the front doors of Glasgow Airport's terminal today before exploding in flames. A Glasgow police spokeswoman said there were no immediate reports of any injuries and that the blaze was under control. The airport has been evacuated and all flights suspended following the incident at 15:15.
Eye witnesses told BBC news that the vehicle, believed to be Jeep Cherokee, had exploded shortly after crashing into the glass front doors of the terminal, and said there was a heavy stench of petrol. They added that the green four-wheel-drive had raced toward the terminal at full speed before crashing into security barriers.
A taxi driver added: 'It raced across the central reservation and went straight into the building.' He said that a stocky Asian man had got out of the car and was quickly tackled to the ground by bystanders. 'It would appear to me to have been a deliberate attack. I think this was a terrorist attack,' he said.
Another witness told the BBC he was not sure that the car was intended to be a bomb as the explosion that occurred after it crashed was relatively small. He said: 'The car didn't actually explode. There were a few pops and bangs which presumably was the petrol.'
The witness said he had helped tackle one of the occupants of the vehicle to the ground, saying that another Asian man from the vehicle was badly burnt in the incident. He was also detained and taken away by police.
A witness told ITV News that a man had attempted to take a gas cylinder from the car before the vehicle went up in flames, but that could not be independently confirmed. They quoted Glasgow police as saying four people had been arrested in the wake of the incident, however, other reports suggest that two people were arrested.
BAA, which manages the airport, was not immediately available to comment. A Whitehall spokesman said the incident was not being treated as a national security threat.
Glasgow airport handles around 8.5 million passengers a year and would have been packed with holidaymakers at the time of the incident, which took place at around 15:15, as the Scottish school's summer holidays started yesterday.
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