A fire tore through the cargo section of Istanbul's Atatürk Airport on a Wednesday afternoon, injuring three workers and causing temporary disruptions to air traffic before crews brought it under control roughly an hour after it started.
The blaze ignited at around 3:30 p.m. local time in Terminal C, the airport's freight handling area. Authorities said the likely cause was either an electrical short-circuit or sparks from a welding machine catching stored cargo alight.
Dozens of firefighters, backed by two aerial tankers, battled heavy smoke and a series of explosions from within the cargo hold. Parts of the building collapsed, and crews worked to prevent the fire from spreading to neighboring storage areas.
Three people were hospitalized with smoke inhalation. Some inbound flights were held or diverted to a second airport on the Asian side of the Bosphorus, though the main passenger terminal was unaffected and the airport's chief of operations confirmed the fire was "completely under control."
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this wire report, first published in May 2006, in its own words.