Rome airport closed after terminal fire

Fire broke out at Rome's main Fiumicino airport on Wednesday night; no serious injuries were reported.

The fire caused the airport to close. It was reported that Italy's busiest airport with 39 million passengers in 2014 will remain closed until 2 p.m. (1200 GMT). During the fire, some shops in the terminal were seriously damaged.

The miday hours are an inconvenient time to close the airport. The volume of the trans-Atlantic arrivals and departures is at its highest then.

Passengers who showed up early for morning flights could not enter any of the terminals. The expressway between Rome and the airport was closed to allow emergency vehicles to get by. Trains coming from the city were also suspended.

A flame broke out around midnight in the international Terminal 3. Officials at first thought that the fire had started in a baggage area, but later said it might have originated in a restaurant.