Passengers evacuated from Italian airport after 'lunatic' sets fire to check-in desks

Published on 20/08/2025 - 16:58 GMT+2

A awesome Italian airdrome was forced to adjacent disconnected parts of its terminal connected Wednesday aft a man reportedly group occurrence to check-in desks and caused harm pinch a hammer.

Terminal 1 of Milan Malpensa Airport was partially evacuated aft a "lunatic group occurrence to nan check-in area", according to nan Lombardy Airports Association.

"The business was quickly brought nether power aft nan apprehension of nan madman who group occurrence to and destroyed respective check-in counters," nan relation wrote connected X.

The fishy has been identified by Italian media arsenic a 28-year-old man from Mali. He'll reportedly look successful tribunal for a fast-track proceeding tomorrow.

The incident happened astatine astir 11 americium erstwhile nan man doused check-in counters pinch flammable liquid earlier mounting them alight, besides damaging nan adjacent walls and accusation screens pinch a hammer, according to nan Corriere della Sera newspaper.

Italian separator unit officers managed to restrain nan man, while airdrome firefighters worked to put retired nan blaze, Varese News reported.

A video of nan incident shared connected societal media shows passengers fleeing nan check-in area arsenic achromatic fume billows from a fire. A man is past seen approaching nan fishy and hitting him connected nan caput pinch a occurrence extinguisher, causing him to autumn to nan ground. Several different men past thief to pin down nan suspect, and 1 of them throws a hammer away.

The footage could not beryllium independently verified by Euronews.

Photographs shared by nan Lombardy Airports Association connected X show hundreds of passengers opinionated extracurricular nan terminal adjacent to occurrence extinguishers, arsenic good arsenic firefighters moving wrong nan evacuated check-in areas — which are blanketed successful achromatic smoke.

A spokesperson for nan provincial occurrence section told Italian media that "airport operations continued without important disruption to aerial traffic".

Last month, flights were delayed astatine different airdrome successful nan metropolis — Milan Bergamo — owed to nan decease of a man who was sucked into nan motor of a plane, section media reported.