Chaos for thousands at Rome’s airport after fire devastates terminal

Scores of flights were cancelled and thousands of passengers had their travel plans wrecked after a fierce fire devastated part of a terminal at Rome’s Fiumicino airport.

The city’s main airport was closed to passengers for several hours on Thursday after a blaze triggered by an electrical fault in a bar broke out in terminal three, which is used for international flights.

When the airport reopened, there were scenes of total chaos with thousands of people trying to find out what was happening and frantic airport staff desperately attempting to deal with the backlog and match disorientated and frustrated passengers to seats on waiting planes.

The first departures of the day involving planes carrying passengers did not take place until after 2pm and some carriers saw their entire day’s schedule in and out of the airport wiped out.

Italian carrier Alitalia said airport authorities had asked all airlines to cancel about half their Friday flights, and said it would try to offset the disruptions by using larger aircraft.

Three airport employees were treated for smoke inhalation but there were no serious injuries.