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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Disruption at Heathrow Airport as control tower evacuated | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A number of planes at Heathrow Airport have been disrupted after its control tower was forced to evacuate. | A number of planes at Heathrow Airport have been disrupted after its control tower was forced to evacuate. |
| The alarm on the airfield meant several flights were unable to land or take-off from the airport. | The alarm on the airfield meant several flights were unable to land or take-off from the airport. |
| Flights were forced to divert to Gatwick and Stansted airports, while some had to return to their original destinations after take-off. | Flights were forced to divert to Gatwick and Stansted airports, while some had to return to their original destinations after take-off. |
| Heathrow Airport said the alarm has been investigated, and "operations" have started to resume. | Heathrow Airport said the alarm has been investigated, and "operations" have started to resume. |
| A spokeswoman for the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said: "the control tower had been evacuated" after an alarm was triggered. | A spokeswoman for the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) said: "the control tower had been evacuated" after an alarm was triggered. |
| Heathrow Airport has tweeted to apologise for the delays: | Heathrow Airport has tweeted to apologise for the delays: |
| Analysis | |
| By Tom Edwards, BBC London Transport Correspondent | |
| Heathrow is one of busiest airports in the world with an average 210,000 passengers leaving and arriving every day. | |
| At the moment airports are experiencing busy holiday periods - so to shut Heathrow's runways even for just 20 minutes has a huge impact. | |
| Planes land every 90 seconds, so the closure will have a knock-on impact affecting thousands of passengers with delays - a few planes have even had to be diverted to Stansted. | |
| That said, safety protocols at airports are normally extremely strict, and it looks like there was no option other than to stop flights while the fire alarm was investigated. |