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Wednesday, July 31, 2013

■ ALGERIA: Fire in Algiers Houari Boumediene Airport control tower temporarily disrupts flights.

Authorities at Algiers Houari Boumediene International Airport were on Monday, July 29 forced to divert all inbound flights to Wahran and Annaba airports after a fire broke out in the control tower at 18h00L. 

Algiers Houari Boumediene
International Airport
According to news reports, an electrical short-circuit on one of the tower's lower level's numerous air conditioning units caused the fire, which was quickly put out by 20h00L by the fire brigade.

A mobile tower was installed to ensure the continuity of traffic with operations resuming at 23h00L.

On a tour of the site following the incident, Algerian Transport Minister, Amar Tou, who was accompanied by the CEO of Algiers' airport management services company (Etablissement de Gestion de Services Aéroportuaires d'Alger - EGSA) Allache Tahar, stressed that technical equipment present in the control tower had not been damaged.

An investigation is underway to discover the cause of the short out.