Fire forces brief Statue of Liberty evacuation
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Emergency crews wait near the docking area for the Statue of Liberty after a fire broke out on Liberty Island forcing an evacuation in Manhattan, New York, US, on Aug 27, 2018.
PHOTO: REUTERS
NEW YORK (AFP) - More than 3,000 tourists were evacuated Monday (Aug 27) from the island where the Statue of Liberty stands, after propane cylinders caught fire at a construction site near the iconic landmark, officials said.
Liberty Island, which welcomes thousands of visitors a day during the busy summer season, was evacuated for more than two hours, before the fire department announced at around 2pm (2am Singapore time) that the blaze was under control.
Jerry Willis, a spokesman for the National Park Service that manages Liberty Island, confirmed to AFP that tourists were able to return to the monument, which is accessible to the public by ferry.
One construction worker was slightly injured in the fire but did not require hospital treatment, a fire department spokesman said.
Liberty Island was evacuated on July 4, US Independence Day, after an activist tried to scale the statue to protest against the Trump administration's separation of migrant children from their parents at the US-Mexican border.
Construction is ongoing on a new Statue of Liberty Museum, which is expected to be completed in 2019.
