London Gatwick Airport terminal evacuated amid bomb scare

London’s Gatwick Airport has evacuated a large part of its South terminal “as a precaution” while it investigates a security incident, disrupting traffic at the second-biggest UK hub.

Passengers won’t be able to enter the terminal while the evacuation is ongoing, Gatwick said in a post on X. About 630 flights are due to arrive and depart from London’s second biggest airport today, according to data from Cirium.

Sussex police said that they’ve established a security cordon in the terminal following “discovery of a suspected prohibited item in luggage.” Police said they were called at 8:20 a.m. and that they’ve deployed an explosive ordnance disposal team as a precaution.

Some roads around the South Terminal have also been closed, police said, advising people to avoid the area where possible.

The Prime Minister’s spokesman, Dave Pares, described the incident at Gatwick as an “evolving situation” in a regular briefing with journalists on Friday.

Pares couldn’t say if the incident at Gatwick was connected to a separate controlled explosion near the U.S. embassy in London earlier in the day.

“I haven’t got anything more to add,” he said. “The Met have said that they’re making inquiries into the incident at the U.S. embassy and Gatwick have said they’re working hard to resolve issues as quickly as possible.”

The South terminal is where airlines including British Airways, EasyJet Plc, Wizz Air Holdings Plc, TUI AG, Turkish Airlines, Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA and TAP Portugal operate from. Videos posted on X showed passengers being ushered out of the terminal building and long queues outside.

Gatwick is the second-largest airport in the London area, behind London Heathrow. Other airports in the London area include Luton and Stansted, which is located near Cambridge and serves mainly low-cost airlines.