London airport terminal reopened after being evacuated due to security incident

Located over 48 kilometres south of London, Gatwick Airport is the second busiest in Britain.

In Short

• Security of passengers remains top priority, airport said in a statement
• Visuals show thousands of flyers waiting outside airport for operations to resume
• Bus, train services to the airport disrupted

London's Gatwick Airport reopened its South terminal on Friday after a security alert earlier in the day forced its evacuation and caused travel disruption for thousands of flyers who were forced to wait outside the airport. The bomb squad was called to deal with a suspected prohibited item that had been found in luggage, causing authorities to call for the terminal's evacuation.

"The earlier security alert has now been resolved and cleared by police. The South Terminal is reopening to staff and will be open to passengers shortly," the airport said in a statement.

Visuals taken from outside the airport showed flyers moving away from the building. Videos also showed hundreds of people gathered outside the airport as they waited for operations to resume.

"Safety and security of our passengers and staff remains our top priority. We are working hard to resolve the issue as quickly as possible," the airline had said in a post on X after the terminal was evacuated.

Hundreds of flights scheduled to land or take off were delayed due to the incident, with authorities confirming that flyers would be restricted from entering the terminal till the issue was resolved.

Emergency foil blankets were distributed to some of the passengers to help shield themselves from the cold, Reuters reported.

According to reports, bus services to the airport had been affected. Railway services were also not stopping at Gatwick Airport station due to the security incident.

This comes after the UK Police carried out a controlled explosion outside the US Embassy in London after a suspicious package was found outside it on the same day.

"We can confirm that the 'loud bang' reported in the area a short time ago was a controlled explosion carried out by officers," the Metropolitan Police later said.