London City Airport Declared Safe After ‘Chemical Incident’

(Bloomberg) -- London’s City Airport was evacuated for about three hours and paramedics treated people with breathing difficulties after reports of an unspecified chemical incident that may be linked to tear gas.

“The search of the airport led to the discovery of what is believed to be a CS gas spray,” according to an e-mailed statement by City Airport. “Whilst the cause of the incident has yet to be confirmed, officers are investigating whether it was the result of an accidental discharge of the spray.”

Some flights were canceled and operations would resume with disruptions, a City Airport spokeswoman said by phone. At about 4 p.m. in London emergency services were called after the alarm was activated. Firefighters and police then conducted a sweep.

Two people were taken to hospital and 26 were treated at the scene. There were no details on the cause of the incident, which prompted three fire engines to be called to the scene. Firefighters in protective clothing swept the airport, which is favored by business travelers as it’s near London’s financial district.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said the incident wasn’t suspicious.

--With assistance from Benjamin Katz and Anooja Debnath To contact the reporters on this story: Clementine Fletcher in New York at cfletcher5@bloomberg.net, Emma Ross-Thomas in London at erossthomas@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net, Flavia Krause-Jackson, Nikolaj Gammeltoft