Police investigating a "chemical incident" at London City Airport have found suspected CS gas spray.

Paramedics treated 27 and took two people to hospital after the airport was closed and evacuated on Friday afternoon.

About 500 people were told to leave the airport and travellers were told to expect "long delays".

Image: The scene as evening fell in east London

Firefighters and police wearing protective equipment carried out two complete sweeps of the airport building and declared the incident over.

But they failed to find anything that might have caused it.


However, a later Met Police statement said: "A subsequent search of the airport led to the discovery of what is believed to be a CS gas spray.

Image: Passengers on the tarmac at London City Airport. Pic: Chris Daly

"Whilst the cause of the incident has not yet been confirmed, officers are investigating whether it was the result of an accidental discharge of the spray.

"Enquiries continue. This is not being treated as a terrorist-related incident. At this early stage officers believe that the spray may have been discarded by a passenger prior to check-in."

Gutted cant get to Scotland for @JoshTaylorBoxer fight tonight. As #CityAirport got evacuated when everyone started coughing uncontrollably! — David Haye (@mrdavidhaye) October 21, 2016

Witness Tanya Ramsay told Sky News: "Everyone was coughing a lot, struggling to breathe, struggling to not cough.

"People weren't managing to get their hands over their mouths. By the time we were leaving, I did hear a couple of men talking about how their eyes were absolutely stinging and streaming."

The boxer David Haye, who was on his way to Edinburgh to watch a fight on Friday, tweeted he was unable to travel "as #CityAirport got evacuated when everyone started coughing uncontrollably!"

Confusion as London City Airport is evacuated

Scores of passengers were moved on to the tarmac outside the terminal building.

London Ambulance's assistant director of operations, Paul Gibson, said: "We were called at 4.11pm to reports of an incident at London City Airport.

"We sent a number of resources to the scene including two single responders in cars, four ambulance crews, an incident response officer and our Hazardous Area Response Team (medics specially trained to treat people in hazardous situations)."

Image: Police tape marks off the entrance to London City Airport

London City Airport advised people due to fly to check with their airlines for latest flight information.

Incoming planes from destinations such as Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Belfast City and Paris had to be diverted to other airports.

The airport later tweeted: "Airport has now reopened. We thank passengers for their patience, access to terminal will be staggered & disruption to flights expected."

Image: Passengers and security at London City Airport following the evacuation

Sky's Home Affairs Correspondent Mark White said there was nothing to link the incident at London City to an apparent terror scare at the nearby North Greenwich tube on Thursday.

A 19-year-old was held on terror charges after being Tasered in the street the day after a controlled explosion was carried out at the station.