​by Mick the Ram

A fire at an electrical substation 2 miles from London’s Heathrow Airport, has caused global chaos after it was forced to close for the entirety of Friday 21 March.

The high-voltage facility at the west London suburb of Hayes, was subject of a major explosion and subsequent fire at around 11.30pm the previous night, causing a major power outage at the airport.

Thankfully, nobody was injured, but London Fire Brigade (LFB) worked throughout the night to bring the situation under control, nevertheless part of the transformer continued to burn more than 12 hours later, with the cause of the blaze not yet determined.

At Heathrow, which sees a plane land or take off every 45 seconds, an airport spokesperson said they had no choice but to close until at least 23:59 on the 21st to maintain the safety of passengers and staff.

At least 1,351 flights to and from Heathrow and as many as 290,000 travelers are known to be affected just today, but the knock-on effect will be much, much greater.

Flights due to land at or take off from Heathrow were either diverted to other airports in places such as Dublin, Amsterdam, Munich, Frankfurt, Madrid, Lyon and other European cities, or cancelled completely.

Tens of thousands of passengers have been left stranded at airports overseas and planes from the US, the Caribbean and Asian countries have had to turn around in mid-air.

Local residents were forced to evacuate their homes with one witness explaining how the “whole ground shook” after a huge bang caused an “unbelievably scary” situation.

Counter terrorist police are investigating whether sabotage played a part.

Heathrow is the UK’s largest aviation hub, handling just under 84 million passengers a year – nearly double the next busiest airport in the UK – and around 1,300 landings and take-offs each day.

Global chaos

This unprecedented event appears to have knocked out a back-up generator as well as a substation itself, leading to chaotic scenes and impacted the entire globe.

Police have launched a major incident investigation into the cause of the fire, with authorities adding that at this early stage nothing can be ruled out, including an act of terrorism.

Airlines severely hit

Some flights inbound to Heathrow were able to land at alternative UK airports, including Gatwick and Luton (for the lucky ones), but others were sent across Europe.

It is reported that the airlines most affected were British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines, Air Canada, and Delta, with each suffering multiple cancellations and diversions.