While details are still emerging, there was a deadly explosion at Abu Dhabi Airport today, which Yemens Houthi rebels are claiming responsibility for.
Continue reading: Report: Deadly Drone Attack At Abu Dhabi Airport
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
We taxied to the runway (AUH-CAI) at the time and the plane stopped in the middle of the runway and captain announced the airport had been closed for an undisclosed amount of time… wow didn’t know it’s because of something like this
“…authorities are describing the fire as “minor.” While I’m no fire expert, the video footage makes the fire look pretty significant…”
This is EXACTLY what I said when I viewed the video. And describing an event as minor when three people have died (& many more injured) is…interesting. It makes me ask…at what point does it become MORE THAN minor?
The reports say the deadly portion of the attacks was in Musaffah, an industrial area where there are large fuel storage facilities and a pipeline network, while the fire at the airport was much smaller.
This is correct. The post describing the tanker explosions as occurring at AUH is factually wrong.
The deaths of a few non-white foreign workers is always considered "minor damage" in the UAE.
Ben,
As an Abu Dhabi local, can definitely tell you that neither video is of Abu Dhabi airport.
The first video does not appear to be in Abu Dhabi at all (reading the business signs), and the second video seems to be of the oil tankers explosion which happened in the industrial city some 30km away from the airport.
Lucky,
An engineer here, assisting with terminology. Apparently it was a storage tank that was struck, not a “tanker”. A tanker is a layman’s term for a ship carrying oil or other similar liquids. I’ve read elsewhere that a tank truck was also involved as a secondary explosion. But no “tankers” involved in this incident.
Ron
I witnessed an attack like this on Abu Dhabi Airport (which was claimed by the same group - you can find reports on al jazeera) in july 2018. I was arrested for 24hrs because i took pictures of the smoke cloud to send to my brother.. In the end i had a talk with the military police chief, he sort of apologized, (we were served arabic coffee in his office it was quite surreal) and they told me it was just a crew bus accident and nothing else. They also didn’t help me with rebooking my (Etihad) connecting flight to tokyo which i had missed. Have not returned to the UAE since