Fire delays flights at Brussels Airport

An underground fire that broke out at Brussels International Airport in Belgium has forced an indefinite closure of one of the airport’s runways.

The fire started at about 6pm local time yesterday and was extinguished within one hour, said airport spokesman Jan Van Der Cruysse.

The flames originated in the 10 miles of linked tunnels underneath the airport where the facility’s electrical wiring is housed.

“It resulted in heavy delays yesterday evening until about 9pm,” said Van Der Cruysse, who estimated that “several dozen flights” and upwards of 1,000 passengers were affected.

The situation was made worse by the fact that the airport had been performing routine maintenance on another of its three runways.

Van Der Cruysse said the airport eventually managed to reopen the runway that had been closed for maintenance, though pilots landing there must land manually.

Van Der Cruysse said an investigation was under way to determine the cause of the fire. Flights were back to normal today.