Tanzanian gov't probes int'l airport fire

Tanzanian transport minister has formed a team Friday to probe the cause of fire occurred at the Julius Nyerere International Airport.

The fire has suddenly erupted Thursday night around 11 p.m. at terminal 2, leaving commuters and workers in quarries.

Commuters have been worried that they might miss their flights as scheduled and the workers wondered on what caused the fire.

Briefing the journalists during the visit at the scenario, Makame Mbarawa, Minister of Works, Transport and Communication, said that the team of 12 specialists under the chairman Joseph Nyahende from the Tanzania Airport Authority (TAA) will come up with answers over the cause of the fire within a month.

"I believe the team will come up with tangible reasons on why the fire was erupted, helping to find effective solutions in all airports we have," he told the journalists.

He believes that it is better to find the measures to prevent such incidents before they occur rather than waiting until they happen.

He said although the fire and rescue force arrived soon at the incident and they managed to stop it, but the priority should be looking a way that the incident will not happen again.

"The two areas include terminal number 2 area and a room which is used to keep luggage were mostly affected by the fire and the luggage were also burnt to ashes," he said adding that the value assessment to the destroyed properties is going on.

He added that the staff decided to use the terminal 1 to serve the people while the terminal number 2 was on maintenance, adding that the services in the terminal number 2 was resumed since yesterday.

The situation is currently cool although few areas such as arrival area that was dark and smells smoke, with no human injured or dead in the incident. Endit