Rome's Airport Begins to Reopen Following Fire

romeRome's Fiumicino airport has begun to reopen after a fire that started in Terminal 3 just after midnight local time shut down the entire airport, Reuters reports. The fire damaged the main international terminal building and forced the cancellation of dozens of flights. All check-in procedures have been moved to Terminal 1 until further notice. 

It will likely take "a number of days" before Terminal 3 can become fully operational again, Vito Riggio, the head of Italy’s civil aviation authority ENAC, told the Wall Street Journal. 19 long-distance flights that had already been in the air were allowed to land at the airport early Thursday morning. Air traffic has since resumed, at first limited to 12 flights per hour. Terminal 3's flights will be spread among the airport's three other undamaged terminals. 

While investigators are still attempting to determine the cause of the fire, it is believed to have started as a short circuit in a restaurant, the Associated Press reports. Three people suffered light smoke inhalation as a result of the fire, which damaged more than 4,000 square feet of retail space. 

The damage was contained to the commercial area beyond the security check-in, Lorenzo Lo Presti, the head of the airport, told the AP.