A fire has broken out at Terminal 2 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos, with the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) confirming that emergency responders are currently battling the blaze.
In a statement posted on its official page on Sunday, FAAN said its Aerodrome Rescue and Firefighting Service (ARFFS) had been deployed to contain the incident.
“The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) wishes to inform the public that a fire incident has occurred at Terminal 2 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos,” the authority said.
It added, “The FAAN Aerodrome Rescue and Firefighting Service (ARFFS) is currently responding to the incident and working diligently to contain the situation.”
FAAN said there had been no reported casualties or loss of life.
“There have been no reported casualties or loss of life. Further updates will be provided as more information becomes available,” the statement added.
The latest incident comes just months after another major fire disrupted operations at the airport.
In February, SaharaReporters reported that a fire at Terminal 1 of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport destroyed critical air-to-ground communication systems used by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), forcing air traffic controllers to rely entirely on emergency backup equipment to sustain flight operations.
The Managing Director of NAMA, Farouk Umar, described the damage as a huge setback to aviation operations, saying the fire had “affected our air-to-ground communication completely.”
He disclosed that the agency had to deploy backup systems from other locations to keep Lagos airport operational while inbound flights were temporarily suspended during the emergency.
“The truth of the matter is that with what I have seen, we have a lot to do when we are out of the situation. It is going to be very difficult for me to tell the magnitude of the loss; it will take us a while to do so,” Umar had said after inspecting the damaged facility.
The February blaze occurred at the old terminal of the airport, which was undergoing a multibillion-naira renovation at the time.
The Murtala Muhammed International Airport has witnessed previous fire incidents. In September 2023, smoke was reported at the international wing of the airport after what FAAN later attributed to a suspected electrical spark in the baggage hall ceiling at Terminal 1.
As of the time of filing this report, the cause of Sunday’s fire at Terminal 2 had not been disclosed, while emergency responders continued efforts to bring the situation under control.
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(SaharaReporters)