A fire broke out in the night at the Vincenzo Bellini international airport in Catania. The flames started in the lower base of the airport.

The firefighters worked for hours to get to grips with a "delicate and challenging" situation and put out the flames.

The first distress call came in at 11:29pm. Firefighters and fire trucks arrived at the scene immediately. The fire was contained and extinguished by the fire brigade teams, who also intervened from the headquarters of the provincial command of Catania.

But the airport was filled with smoke. Scenes of panic that we saw tonight: the passengers, and not only, have left the airport in a hurry. In the collective stampede, almost in the dark of the smoke, there were those who screamed and those who cried, pushed outside by security personnel who shouted "out, everyone out".

Luckily no serious injuries were reported, some people are intoxicated by the smoke and others in shock from fear.

The SAC, the management company of the Catania airport, communicated that due to the fire, flight operations at the airport are suspended until 2 pm on Wednesday 19 July.

(Unioneonline/L)