Stranded passenger describes cordon easingpublished at 15:43 British Summer Time
One passenger who was evacuated to the nearby NEC tells the BBC that the airport is slowly allowing passengers back in.
Sounding sirens “have all stopped”, says Sally Davies.
She says the sirens were “deafening” until a few moments ago. Passengers are now being “herded back inside – they’re telling us they are going to start taking us section by section back into the airport”, she adds.
Ms Davies adds that airport staff have been very calm in the face of so much uncertainty: “No-one looks remotely stressed”, she says.
She’s not confident her flight will leave any time soon. Originally, she was meant to fly at 16:00 BST, but suspects she will be stuck for a few hours.