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<\/p>\nFire alarms were set off neat the babbage reclaim area at the North Terminal of BHX due to a mystery smoke incident this afternoon<\/p>\n
Groups of people have been held on the tarmac outside the arrivals hall at Birmingham Airport (Image: Sander van Barneveld)<\/p>\n
Passengers had reacted with anger after being held up at a major Midland airport following a mystery smoke incident.<\/p>\n
People arriving on flights at Birmingham Airport<\/a> were caught up in an incident at the venue\u2019s North Terminal on Tuesday (April 7).<\/p>\n The fire service was alerted at 1pm after a fire alarm was set off in the baggage area with reports of smoke and the \u2018smell of fire\u2019 too.<\/p>\n Read more: Birmingham Airport evacuation live after North Terminal incident<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n But so far the cause of the smoke, and one would expect a fire, has yet to be confirmed with the airport declaring the incident over.<\/p>\n A spokesman for West Midlands Fire Service said: \u201cFirefighters are at the airport, after reports of smoke in a baggage reclaim area. \u201cThere is no confirmed fire, and we are working with on-site staff to identify the source of the smoke.”<\/p>\n A fire engine at Birmingham Airport dealing with an incident in the baggage area (Image: Delays were starting to appear on the BHX departure board.<\/p>\n A Jet2<\/a> flight to Tenerife South was due to leave at 2.30pm and is now estimated to leave at 4.15pm.<\/p>\n A KLM flight which was due to leave at 5.40pm is now showing an estimated departure time of 6pm.<\/p>\n Other flights are not though showing delays at the moment.<\/p>\n But the last flight to show as \u2018departed\u2019 at the airport us the 1.25pm flight to Amsterdam, which left at 2.18pm.<\/p>\n Passengers from a number of planes are being held airside at Birmingham Airport following the fire incident and evacuation (Image: Sander van Barneveld Birmingham<\/a> Airport confirmed the incident was \u2018contained\u2019 and the airport is still operational.<\/p>\n But passengers said they have been left in the dark as to what had being going on with many held on planes arriving at the airport and some evacuated from the arrivals hall while the incident was being investigated.<\/p>\n Douglas Bagley said: \u201cHow does the airport remain operational when there are hundreds of passengers (including me) stuck on planes. We have no idea when we will be allowed to leave the planes.\u201d<\/p>\n And Kip Lines said: \u201cThose of us sitting on planes for the last hour at Birmingham Airport would love more info.\u201d<\/p>\n Ian Turley added: \u201cBirmingham Airport this is truly shocking, no communication with the hundreds, if not thousands, of people who are stuck outside, unable to leave the airport – with or without their luggage- and not even an offer of a bottle of water.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more: Ryanair adds five more routes from Birmingham Airport as part of major expansion<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Another passenger has said: \u201cI’m stuck on a Ryanair<\/a> flight in Birmingham Airport.<\/p>\n “There are queues all out the arrivals and I\u2019m stuck in the plane and they have told us nothing but that there\u2019s been a fire.\u201d<\/p>\n While Melodie Acosta told BirminghamLive: \u201cWe\u2019re landed at BHX at 2pm with already more than 30 minute delay.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd when we landed we\u2019ve been advised of the situation and been told it was going to last around 20 more minutes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s now been one hour 30 minutes and no one tell us anything. We don\u2019t know how much longer this is all going to take.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople have train journeys, or cars waiting for them.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a hard time understanding how there is ZERO updates for the people that are STUCK inside planes that landed hours ago and are not allowed to get out of them.<\/p>\n \u201cI keep refreshing and it says there is no fire so why are we all still stuck?\u201d<\/p>\n Fire evacuation at Birmingham Airport(Image: David Evans)<\/p>\n Other passengers had reported some passengers being given help.<\/p>\n Sander van Barneveld who flew in from Amsterdam said: “Disembarked our plane at 12:00, directed straight outside from the passport control area.<\/p>\n \u201cWaited outside for an hour and escorted into a waiting area inside the terminal until further instructions. Now 1.5 hour after getting off the plane.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople are now handed water bottles and can use the facilities.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0_Fire-engine-at-BHX.jpg\")
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\nElliot Labbate)<\/p>\n![\"Passengers](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775613459_485_1_IMG_8486jpeg.jpg\")
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