Thatch roof at Skukuza Airport catches fire – PICTURES

The thatch roof at Skukuza Airport in the Kruger National Park caught fire on Sunday, 6 October.

South African National Parks (SANParks) has confirmed that contingency plans are in place to ensure the smooth running of operations at the airport.

Timing couldn’t be worse as Mzansi’s most famous game reserve looks forward to its peak visitor season.

According to social media posts, the airport’s thatch roof caught fire while there were passengers in the lounge waiting for the last flight of the day.

Skukuza Airport is known as the ‘gateway to the Kruger National Park’ and is managed by the Skukuza Airport Management Company, in conjunction with SANParks.

Airlink operates daily scheduled flights between Johannesburg and Cape Town to Skukuza Airport.

Investigation underway

SANParks said that no injuries were reported and travellers were evacuated safely.

“Fire teams were shortly on the scene and managed to bring the fire under control. The airport has contingency plans in place to ensure smooth interim operations tomorrow (Monday),” read the post.

An investigation into the cause of the fire was still ongoing at the time of publishing, while the severity of the damage to the airport is unknown.

However, from pictures on social media it appear that the airport was badly damaged.

Have you ever flown into Skukuza Airport?

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