Xclusive: Massive fire engulfs Kenya's Nairobi airport (See Photos)

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The worst fire on record at east Africa's busiest airport, Jomo Kenyatta International, stranded hundreds of passengers Wednesday morning and repeatedly drove back firefighters. The cause is not yet known.

A fire engulfed Kenya's main airport on Wednesday forcing the closure of a vital travel and trade gateway to east Africa.
Flames from the inferno lit up the early morning sky, and the intense heat repeatedly drove back firefighters. A huge plume of black smoke billowed from the airport buildings, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or injuries.
Hundreds of passengers were stranded outside Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in the capital Nairobi, which was cordoned off to keep the public out after the fire started early in the morning in the arrivals and immigration area, officials said.

Members of the public stand in front of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, as it goes up in flames, choking a vital travel and trade gateway to east Africa, witnesses and officials said.

The cause of the worst fire in record at east Africa's busiest airport was not yet known.
"We are still fighting to contain the fire. Investigations will start immediately after," Michael Kamau, cabinet secretary for transport, told reporters at the airport.

The arrival lounge of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is seen in flames. The cause of the fire was not yet known.

"The fire started at a very central part of the airport and this made access difficult. But we have closed the airport indefinitely as we try to contain the fire."
One passenger at the airport said he heard two small explosions from the international arrival area, then sirens.
"I was waiting for my flight around 5 a.m. (0200 GMT / 10:00 p.m. Tuesday EDT) when I heard two explosions, as if from gas cylinder or electricity fault," said the passenger, a Kenyan who requested anonymity.

Hundreds of passengers were stranded as they waited beyond the flames for word. Flights were eventually diverted to regional cities as firefighters battled to put out the blaze.

"Within minutes, the entire airport was secured by police and Kenya airport authority personnel, who ordered everybody out of the airport," he said.
The airport buildings were ravaged by the fire. Television pictures showed desks that had been reduced to charcoal inside the burned out terminal. The roof had partly caved in, and the floor was flooded with water from fire fighters.

Fire fighters and airport officials view the damage caused by a fire at the international arrivals area.

Transport secretary Kamau said no plane had landed or departed since the fire started, and said he could not give any indication of when the airport would reopen. Airlines that wanted to take off without passengers have been allowed to do so, he said.
Stranded passengers watched from a short distance as grey smoke continued to billow from the blackened building. Many sat on their bags or on the ground as they waited for information.
Svein Huseby, 38, an engineer from Norway had been due to fly home after visiting his Kenyan girlfriend.

One passenger reported hearing two explosions before the fire that fire fighters say started at a very central part of the airport.

"It's been chaotic ... No one knows if they will be going home in two hours, two days or two months. People are going crazy," he said.
"Some official information would have been nice."

The airport's roof was seen partly caved in and the floor was flooded with water from fire fighters' hoses.

Exporters of perishable produce, mainly flowers, said the impact of the fire would cripple their business.
"This is disastrous," Jane Ngige, chief executive officer of exporters association Kenya Flower Council, told Reuters.
Airlines are expected to divert flights to Kenya's port city of Mombasa, Eldoret in the northwest and Kisumu in the west, as well as to neighboring countries including Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.

Airlines are expected to divert flights to Kenya's port city of Mombasa, Eldoret in the northwest and Kisumu in the west, as well as to neighboring countries including Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.

Cabinet Secretary for the Interior Joseph ole Lenku said security had been heightened at the airport after the fire started.
"People should not come to the airport while this work is ongoing. No casualties have been reported and the fire fighters are doing a good job. Safety is paramount," he said.
Kenya Airways, one of the leading airlines in the region which uses the airport as its main hub, said it was diverting flights to Mombasa and that transit passengers were being taken to hotels. Other flights had been cancelled.
Shares in the airline fell 2 percent.
In Rwanda, Robert Nsinga, a spokesman for RwandAir said it had cancelled flights to Nairobi and was offering passengers flights to Mombasa instead.
Wenceslaus Rama Makuza, the chief executive officer of Uganda's Civil Aviation Authority, said no international flights had been diverted to its main airport yet, but one Air Uganda flight had been turned away from Nairobi due to the fire.
Two days ago, a fuel pump failure caused big delays at Nairobi airport.
It was also in the news last week when several duty free shops were forcefully re-possessed by the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) in the early hours of Thursday, following the expiry of a lease agreement.

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