Multiple people wounded in blast at Riyadh airport, say eyewitnesses

RIYADH: Many people were wounded in a blast at Riyadh’s international airport on Saturday, according to two eyewitnesses and two people briefed on the matter, and travellers were evacuated from parts of the facility.

One of the eyewitnesses reported seeing an explosion and then seeing multiple people lying injured on the ground inside the airport. More than a dozen ambulances were seen rushing to the airport.

The Saudi government’s media office and the Saudi civil aviation authority did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the incident.

Saturday’s incident comes amid an escalation of missile strikes by Yemen’s Houthis on the kingdom. The airport has already been attacked twice this week, leaving four people dead and others wounded, and badly damaging an aircraft.

Flight-tracking site flightradar24 showed all flights to Riyadh had either been diverted or cancelled, with only a helicopter hovering over the airport at one point.

The airport urged passengers to contact their airlines directly and check their flight status before heading there.

Kuwait Airways said it had cancelled flights to and from the Saudi capital due to what it described as the closure of Riyadh airport because of the “security situation” there.

Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways earlier cancelled multiple flights between their respective hubs and Riyadh, with some cancellations extending into Monday.

Houthi attacks on Thursday and earlier in the week had already prompted a number of carriers to suspend or cancel services to the Saudi capital, shortly before Riyadh is due to host major energy and investment conferences.

Organisers of those conferences said on Saturday they would go ahead as planned, and they sought to reassure attendees of their security.

The Houthis have said airliners should avoid Saudi airspace, declaring it a zone of military operations after the Yemeni government launched an offensive against the group earlier this month.