PHOTO: Massive Fire Engulfs Kenya's Main Airport

I don't know what's going on but I think we should watch our backs.

Just this morning, I reported the news of a huge fire outbreak at Main International Airport In Nairobi. If you missed it, you can read it here.

But this is yet another...at Kenya's main airport.

A fire engulfed Kenya's main airport today, forcing the indefinite suspension of international passenger flights and choking a vital travel gateway to east Africa.

The blaze lit up the early morning sky, the billowing clouds of black smoke engulfing the terminal buildings visible from miles away.

The intense heat repeatedly drove back firefighters who battled for five hours to put out the fire, the worst on record at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, east Africa's busiest.

Michael Kamau, cabinet secretary for transport said an investigation into the fire would start immediately but that it was too early to speculate on the cause.

The blaze stranded thousands of passengers at the airport and exporters of perishable produce, mainly flowers, feared for their export-driven business, a leading source of foreign exchange for Kenya alongside tea exports and tourism.

"This is disastrous," Jane Ngige, chief executive officer of exporters association Kenya Flower Council said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties from the fire, which started in the arrivals and immigration area. Business travellers and tourists were diverted to other airports in the region.

The fire coincided with the 15th anniversary of a twin attacks by Islamist militants on the United States embassy in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, the commercial capital of neighbouring Tanzania.
But security analysts said there was as yet no indication of any link to Islamist militants that Kenyan soldiers are battling in neighbouring Somalia as part of an African Union force.