Black smoke at Mactan-Cebu airport prompts evacuation

CEBU CITY, Philippines—Thick black smoke filled the international arrival area of the Mactan Cebu International Airport (MCIA) shortly after noontime on Thursday, forcing evacuation of its occupants and those coming from the nearby domestic arrival area.

Estee Marie Patiño-Plunket, corporate affairs head of the GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corp., said smoke came from  their air handling unit located below the two arrival areas.

“It triggered our alarm system so we advised our passengers to evacuate so they would not keep on coughing,” she said in a telephone interview.

Plunket said airport fire fighters and personnel from Emergency Rescue Unit Foundation were checking the cause of the fire alarm.

The airport’s alarm system went off at 1:30 p.m. while thick and foul smelling smoke started to engulf the MCIA’s international arrival area.

Smoke came out from the air handling unit number 7 located below and in between the international and domestic arrival areas.

Power was shut off at the international arrival area.

“As a precaution, passengers were evacuated from the terminal except those at the boarding gates. The fire department of the airport and Eruf are dealing with the source of the smoke,” said a GMCAC statement.

Plunket said a flight just arrived at the airport while passengers were trying to claim their bags at the international arrival area then.

“We sent out advisories through the airport’s public address system asking them to calm down and vacate the area. There was no panic. Our customer service executives were immediately deployed to assist the passengers and they were very cooperative,” she said.

Most of the passengers at the international arrival area were moved to the nearby domestic arrival area. Those who earlier occupied the domestic arrival area moved out into the pre-terminal area.

Plunket said they also placed on hold the arrival of domestic passengers from a Cebu Pacific flight until they were able to clear the two arrival areas of smoke.

About 340 arriving passengers from two flights were placed on hold at lounge 6 while clearing of international arrival area was ongoing.

Normal airport operations resumed by 3 p.m. although the cause of the fire alarm was still being looked into.