Fire at Istanbul Airport

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » 24 May 2006, 15:03

Huge fire at Istanbul airport (cargo zone), flights cancelled

Kaninchen87 · Post by **Kaninchen87** » 24 May 2006, 15:52

If you want to know more about it (in Dutch):
http://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/news/?ID=13978

Big fire at Atatürk Airport (cargo, terminal C) with a lot of smoke. CNN doesn't know if there are victims or not.

Aircrafts can land/take of at the other side of the airport.

More news: later I hope....

LX-LGX · Post by **LX-LGX** » 24 May 2006, 17:19

online video (Dutch comment):

http://www.zoomin.tv/videoplayer/index. ... =telegraaf

(first seconds are publicity)

Kaninchen87 · Post by **Kaninchen87** » 24 May 2006, 17:38

Looks horrible 8O

Reminds me of what happened a few weeks ago at Zaventem.

And last week here in Lokeren, it was the same dark smoke.

It's really sad! They say that maybe there are some work stuck in the fire 8O

Post by **ElcoB** » 24 May 2006, 17:48

Reuters: Three hurt in cargo area fire at Istanbul airport

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L24426289.htm

Depretair · Post by **Depretair** » 24 May 2006, 18:31

Hello,

Are some planes damaged by the fire ?
What are the causes ?
Thanks for any info.

Captain Depret.

Avro · Post by **Avro** » 24 May 2006, 18:53

This looks really dramatic.

Fortunately it seems no one died. I wish all the best to the injured ones...

Chris

foxtrot_lima_yankee · Post by **foxtrot_lima_yankee** » 24 May 2006, 19:21

According to crash-aerien.com,

a short circuit might have caused a fuel-tank to catch flames, although this is not confirmed.
Potentially, workers might be trapped on the second floor of the building.

Sabena320 · Post by **Sabena320** » 24 May 2006, 20:01

I heard on the news that there are 3 injured and the cause probably has something to do with the electricial.

fokker_f27 · Post by **fokker_f27** » 24 May 2006, 21:33

According to Een: All passenger flights are operating as usual. Fire caused by a short circuit.

Post by **ElcoB** » 25 May 2006, 14:44

* Firefighting planes filled their hulls with six tons of water at a time from the nearby Sea of Marmara and made more than 70 trips to drop it on the burning building.
* The fire destroyed much of the cargo in the building, including textiles and gold shipments worth millions of pounds.
* The Kurdistan Freedom Falcons Organization, a hardline group linked to the main Kurdistan Workers' Party guerrilla group, said it started the fire to protest against Turkey's treatment of the Kurdish minority.
* Cargo building collapsed, planes parked nearby town away in time to avoid damage.

Sources: BBC, The Independent, De Morgen, Het Nieuwsblad.

hakan · Post by **hakan** » 26 May 2006, 11:28

The latest I read in the Turkish media is that only 3 people were injured and the airport was operational during the fire.
The Italian firefighting aircraft leased by the Istanbul Municipality were used for extinguishing the fire. Nobody exactly knows how the fire started but they believe when a maintenance was being carried out -sparks from welding- started the fire. The investigation is still on the way and the damage bill would be quite high.
The cargo operation at Istanbul Airport is reduced and some operations were transferred to Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen and Corlu Airports temporarily. I understand the Ministry of Transport is keen to use Corlu Airport as the permanent cargo airport.

We will wait and see!!

earthman · Post by **earthman** » 26 May 2006, 12:19

They should have asked that 747-200 firebomber plane to come help.

loadmaster747 · Post by **loadmaster747** » 29 May 2006, 14:09

Latest news from Turkish Media says that following items have been burnt besides of Cargo Building during fire:

-More than 400 kilos of pure Silver.
-Few kilos of Gold.
-All kind of Cargo (estimated valour: 14 millions $)
-Some Dangerous Goods (RFL, RNG, RMD)

L-1011 · Post by **L-1011** » 29 May 2006, 15:47

loadmaster747 wrote: -More than 400 kilos of pure Silver.
-Few kilos of Gold.

They probably will only have melted

Who wants to go and scrape it of the ground

loadmaster747 wrote: -Some Dangerous Goods (RFL, RNG, RMD)

That's a litlle bit more worrying, but most of it will probably have gone up in flames and is either out in the nature or burnt to a less harmful residue ....

Well I suppose those are negligible quantities next to all the pollution humankind generates every day ...

loadmaster747 · Post by **loadmaster747** » 30 May 2006, 13:31

Well I suppose those are negligible quantities next to all the pollution humankind generates every day ...

[/quote]

That's true,
although a fire can generate a big amount of pollution in few hours, the daily polution generated by some factories & the high amount of cars in town is much higher.