CS gas forces City airport evacuation

LONDON City Airport was shut down yesterday and dozens of people were treated for breathing difficulties before police found a discarded CS gas canister.

Around 500 were evacuated from the airport in east London, with hundreds sent on to the Tarmac.

Police said they did not think the incident was terror related, and the gas may have been ‘discarded by a passenger’. After fire alarms sounded at around 4pm, airport staff jumped over check-in desks to escape.

Passenger David Morris, 28, who was at the check-in desk, said: ‘I started to cough to the point I was not able to keep talking. People behind the desk were coughing quite aggressively.’

The closure led to travel chaos. Planes from Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Belfast and Paris had to be diverted. Some 26 people were treated by paramedics, with two taken to hospital.