2023-10-19 14:14:18
Passengers and airline staff wait in front of Toulouse-Blagnac airport, after its evacuation, October 18, 2023. CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP
Fourteen French airports were the subject of new attack threats on the morning of Thursday October 19. At least, “8 airports” carried out evacuations due to these bomb threats, according to information from a source close to the matter, cited by Agence France-Presse (AFP). Already on Wednesday, most major French airports, with the exception of the two in Paris, were temporarily evacuated following threats, leading to the cancellation of 130 flights and countless delays. These alerts have been increasing for several days in France, and more particularly since the attack which cost the life of teacher Dominique Bernard in Arras.
Thursday, according to the source close to the matter, the airports of Brest (Finistère), Carcassonne, Rennes, Tarbes, Bordeaux, Béziers (Hérault), Montpellier and Nantes were evacuated.
Contacted by AFP, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) confirms that “several national airports, including Nantes, received threats of attack this morning”without giving a figure or name, the situation being fluctuating.
Some airports have communicated on the subject themselves. Lille airport said at the end of the morning on (formerly Twitter) carry out a “evacuation following a bomb threat”then reported half an hour later the “end of alert”signing “the gradual reopening of the airport”.
“Nantes airport was once again the subject of a bomb threat this Thursday morning, as were other French airports”according to a statement from the site to AFP. “In agreement with state services, the terminal is evacuated while the necessary checks are carried out. » The airports of Tarbes and Carcassonne also confirmed to AFP that they had been evacuated, following new bomb threats.
In Montpellier, a ” bomb alert “ was also in progress, announced late in the morning on X the prefect of Hérault, Francois-Xavier Lauch. “Evacuation and safety of people, law enforcement present on site to establish a security perimeter, deminers triggered to remove doubts”added Mr. Lauch on the social network. “This had little impact on travelers, since only one flight was scheduled, for London, at the end of the morning. It’s about to take off”airport spokesperson Sylvain Jambon told AFP.
Around 1 p.m., the prefect announced the end of the alert as well as the removal of doubts, so that passengers and staff could “return to the airport safely”.
A police source also informed AFP that the airports of Nantes, Bordeaux, Lille and Nice had received threats of attack by email. Contacted by AFP, the latter airport assured that no evacuation was in progress, contrary to what had been declared by certain media.
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