Airport evacuation

Inbound international passengers were kept upstairs in the terminal. Photo / Christopher Reed

Thousands of people were forced to evacuate Auckland International Airport yesterday after emergency alarms were set off.

Hundreds more recently landed passengers from seven airliners were forced to wait for an hour inside the terminal.

The alarms continued to sound for 40 minutes, causing widespread confusion among those evacuated.

The alert caused delays of up to 3 hours for some flights.

Passengers trapped in airport terminals were told to "get comfortable" while airport staff worked out what had set off the alarm.

Toby Gallagher, 33, who was flying into Auckland from the UK via Sydney, said the alarm went off just after 3pm and "hundreds" of passengers were confined to the upstairs passport area.

He said: "The alarm started to go off and staff just told everyone to get comfortable. They moved women and children to the front of the crowd and said no one was allowed downstairs.

"They haven't told us what's going on but everyone seems okay. There are hundreds of people waiting."

His friend Madeline Fawcus, who had been waiting in arrivals, was evacuated from the terminal.

She said: "We haven't been told anything except that we had to come outside, and nobody really understands what is being said.

Airport spokesman Andrew Piri said staff had been too busy to keep people informed: "In these situations the immediate priority is to get things back on track. If people aren't getting information straight away it's probably because staff were focusing on the problem at hand."

He said an electrical fault meant the alarms had stayed on for too long.

At around 4pm, the doors to the airport were reopened, with no announcement from staff.

There were long waits at check-in counters while airport staff worked through the back-log. A Fire Service spokesperson says the alarms were set off by an electrical fault.