Fire alarm stirs panic in UN headquarters

Around 2,000 people were evacuated on Tuesday from the UN headquarters complex in New York City after a fire alarm went off in one of the fan rooms in the second basement.

A report in the Xinhua quoted UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq as saying: "We have to evacuate as a precaution in case of a potential fire, but the alarm was checked and there was no fire."

"It was a problem potentially with the alarms," he noted.

UN staff, diplomats and visitors were allowed back into the buildings after the alarm was cancelled within half an hour.

Haq said the Fire Department of New York came and helped find out that the rooms did not have fire conditions.

Meetings held at the UN headquarters were delayed, including a Security Council open meeting on the situation in Haiti.

Fire drills have been conducted regularly at the UN headquarters, though evacuation was rare in recent years.

--IANS

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