A grass fire at London's Heathrow Airport forced one of its runways to close this evening, with passengers warned disruption will continue for the rest of the day.
Runway 27L was closed for around an hour while the airport's fire service battled the blaze.
Witnesses said crew from four fire engines 'quickly brought the blaze under control'.
The closure happened at peak time for the airport, which normally has two operational runways. The reduced capacity meant takeoffs and landings were delayed, with several arriving flights diverted to other English airports.
Authorities said delays to schedule departures would stretch into the evening.
A spokesperson said: 'Due to a grass area fire 27L has had to be temporarily closed and therefore we will be 27R single runway operations [until further notice].'
The spokesman said operations on the affected runway resumed at around 6.45pm. 'Sorry for the inconvenience,' they added.
Flights from Newcastle, Aberdeen and Boston are believed to be among those that landed at other airports.
Heathrow Airport closed one of its runways after a grass fire broke out. A photograph taken from inside the terminal shows billows of smoke in the sky above the tarmac
A photograph taken from inside the terminal shows billows of smoke in the sky above the tarmac.
The passenger wrote: 'There's a fire near the runway at Heathrow which is delaying all flights.'
One person commented below the image that they had been stuck waiting on the plane.
Another left waiting said: 'In airport. Pretty much all flights delayed still, some more than others.'
This is a breaking news story. More to come.
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