On Thursday morning, a fire broke out at the immigration counters at Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport, totally damaging the system and stopping all flight operations.

Airport officials stated that it would require some time for the smoke to disperse even after the fire was eventually contained. Until the premises were cleared, passengers were not permitted to enter.

People rushing to pick up or drop off passengers flocked to the parking lot because of the fire.

A preliminary examination revealed that a short circuit was the source of the fire at the immigration booths, which quickly spread to a vast area of the airport. According to police, it resulted in a passenger rush, and the airport was completely evacuated.

Around 5:45 a.m., the event happened, interfering with aircraft operations and resulting in an unexpected surge of passengers. 

Firefighters from the Civil Aviation Authority also hurried to the scene, however the Airport Security Force (ASF) staff was the first to react to the event and moved quickly to try to contain the fires. They tried, but the fire wrecked the immigration system, necessitating a total halt to flying operations.

Affected flights

Officials stated that it would require a minimum of three hours to restore the system's functionality while the technical team of the Federal Investigation Agency worked to fix it. 

At 8:30 a.m. today, the first PIA Hajj flight was scheduled to take off from the Lahore airport. As a precaution, intending pilgrims and other passengers were promptly relocated to safer locations. Two of the evacuees, a mother and a kid, were sent to a hospital after becoming ill from the smoke. 

After they had boarded, the Hajj pilgrims were summoned back to the airport lounge.

Every international aircraft arriving in Lahore was diverted to different airports throughout the nation. In midair, a Sri Lankan Airlines flight headed for Lahore was rerouted.

Four flights from Dubai, Jeddah, and Doha touched down at the Lahore Airport, while two more that were headed for Islamabad were rerouted to Islamabad. Passengers were being cleared by the authorities manually. 

The incident caused delays on at least six international flights operated by both domestic and foreign airlines, including PIA and planes leaving from Lahore. 

Thirty foreign flights were cancelled to and from the Lahore airport as a result of a five-hour suspension of international flight operations, according per a Notam published by the airport management. Afterwards, the suspension of foreign flights was extended until 10 p.m.

Aviation officials stated that the reason for the extension of this period was the updating of the immigration system. 

While only the domestic side was being used for Hajj flights, the fire has also hampered air operations from Karachi to Lahore. Every airline's flight between Karachi and Lahore is experiencing delays.

The suspension of domestic flight operations has been verified by a CAA spokeswoman.

Investigation

A team of authorities from the Civil Aviation Authority was later assembled to investigate the cause of the fire that started in the immigration counter's ceiling. The cooling process had begun, and the airport manager was supervising the investigation into the cause of the incident. 

The event has been reported in preliminary form to Khawaja Asif, the minister of aviation. An urgent order has been issued for two senior civil aviation officials to report to Lahore airport.