Operations at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport stalled for about three hours after a fire broke out in a terminal building yesterday.

Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (Caab) officials said at least 10 flights, including one dedicated for pilgrims, were delayed.

Staffers of different offices, several hundred passengers, including pilgrims, were asked to leave after the fire broke out at 1:25pm at Air India office on the second floor of terminal building 2, Nure Azam Miah, officer-in-charge of Airport Police Station, said. 

Passengers and their relatives waited outside with their belongings under the sun for hours. Moreover, passengers of at least two flights were stranded after their arrival at the prime international airport of the country.

People were allowed in the terminals at 4:05pm, said witnesses. Caab officials said they started check-ins around 5:30pm.

Documents, furniture and office equipment in three rooms were burnt, said Major Shakil Newaj Bhuiyan, director (operations) of Fire Service and Civil Defense.

The building was engulfed in smoke and the smell of burning was felt outside, said fire fighters.

Director of the airport, Kazi Iqbal Karim said no major damage was incurred.

Hajj pilgrims wait outside the terminal as a fire breaks out at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport yesterday afternoon. Photo: Prabir Das

Major Shakil said 10 units of firefighters rushed to the scene and doused the fire at 3:05pm.

He added that firefighters asked authorities to snap electricity supply to the airport as soon as they reached there. The supply resumed after 3:00pm.

A three-member probe committee headed by a fire service Deputy Director Debashish Bardhan was formed to find the cause of the fire and asked to submit its report in seven working days.

Caab also formed a five-member committee headed by its director (operations) Saiful Islam to investigate into the incident.

The committee includes two officials from Directorate General of Forces Intelligence and National Security Intelligence.

Mahbubul Alam, a pilgrim, who entered the terminal building around 1:00pm, said he along with several others was waiting on the first floor when Caab security guards asked them to go out of the building with their luggage right away.

Vehicles, that couldn't enter the airport in the afternoon, caused a long tailback on Airport Road.

Commuters suffered as the road from Khilkhet to Airport intersection was jammed for several hours. Thousands of people were subjected to the tailbacks.