Medan, North Sumatra (ANTARA News) - Fire gutted the domestic passenger terminal of Polonia airport in Medan, North Sumatra, on Saturday night at about 20:40 local time, forcing the temporary closure of the airport for all flights.
"The airport has been officially closed because of a conflagration at the domestic embarkation terminal," an official of a local airline company told Antara here Saturday night, adding that all night flights on Saturday had been canceled.
"We have asked thousands of passengers who were waiting in the departure terminal to return home and come back tomorrow (Sunday)," he said.
Poniran M Abdi, head of PT Angkasa Pura II (Polonia airport administration), confirmed the occurrence of the fire.
"That`s correct, a fire torched the airport but I have no further information because fire-fighters are still doing their job," he said.
A few airport workers were the first people who had noticed early signs of the fire. "We smelled smoke at the check-in counter at about 20:30 local time," one of them said.
"Security officers showed no serious concern and made no effort to find the source of the burning smell. Ten minutes later, inflammable goods at the terminal burst into flames," the worker said.
There was no immediate information about casualties or material damage by the fire.
Polonia as the fourth largest airport in Indonesia after Jakarta`s Soekarno-Hatta international airport, Juanda airport in Surabaya and Ngurahrai airport in Denpasar, Bali, also serves international flights.
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