Bermuda International Airport was evacuated for more than 40 minutes after a fire alarm sounded yesterday.

An initial siren in a ground floor office at 11.51 a.m. was followed by a second alarm three minutes later which prompted a full clearance exercise to swing into action.

General Manager Designate Aaron Adderley said travellers left the building in an orderly fashion, and the Fire Service arrived at the scene along with Police and Airport operations officials a short time later.

All passengers in the arrivals hall were processed and cleared while a sweep of the area was conducted. Those on flights touching down from Toronto, Boston and New York were kept on board, and those at the departure gate were asked to remain outside.

Nothing was found, and the all-clear was given at 12.40 p.m. Mr. Adderley said the incident was still being investigated but it appeared that the alarm had not been sounded manually and there had not been a system malfunction. He added that the alert caused only minimal delays.