Terrified travellers watch in horror as van explodes in fireball near terminal

Footage has emerged of the terrifying moment a van exploded outside a Dublin airport terminal.

Travellers were left aghast when the ground support vehicle caught fire and then exploded on the tarmac at around 9.20am on Tuesday morning.

Sources suggest that police were not treating the fire as suspicious and believe that something accidentally caught alight in the vehicle, the Irish Mirror reported.

Officials at Dublin Airport attempted to calm passengers with a post on Twitter which exclaimed "Nobody panic!"

"Dublin Airport Police and Fire Service responded this morning to a ground handling vehicle on fire on the apron," it added.

The airport said that the fire "activated several smoke alarms in Terminal 2" but that "no passengers were evacuated".

The airport said that there was "no impact on flight operations" due to the fire.

The vehicle was seen engulfed in flames outside the terminal (Irish Mirror)

Some social media users snapped in disagreement, with one saying that the fire "absolutely did affect operations".

"Our flight was 45 minutes late leaving, and left without any check in luggage," they wrote.

Another wrote: “Add the fire to the lack of steps for passengers getting off flights, delays in baggage getting off flights, no belts assigned for baggage, baggage on the ground."

A Dublin Airport spokesperson later stated that the fire was extinguished within six minutes.

“A fire in a ground handling vehicle at 9:20am this morning was quickly extinguished within six minutes by the Airport Fire Service at Dublin Airport," the spokesperson said, before admitting that the incident had a "minimal impact" on flight operations.

Dublin Airport said the fire was extinguished 'within six minutes' (Irish Mirror)

The added: “Dublin Airport’s fire marshals reacted appropriately and kept passengers informed of the airside incident which was being dealt with by the Dublin Airport Fire Service and while Airport Police managed vehicular traffic airside throughout the incident.”

A police (Gardaí) spokesperson said: “Gardaí attended the scene of a fire in the environs of Dublin Airport on the morning of Tuesday, 14th June, 2022.

“No injuries were reported. The fire was extinguished by Airport Fire Services.”