Police carry out controlled explosion at London's Euston station

Incident comes a day after two simultaneous incidents sparked security alerts in separate areas of the UK capital

A suspect package was discovered at Euston in London, a day after two simultaneous incidents sparked security alerts in separate areas of the capital. Reuters

Police carried out a controlled explosion near Euston railway station in central London on Saturday following the discovery of a suspect package, a day after two simultaneous incidents sparked security alerts in separate areas of the capital.

Cordons were initially put in place around the area as a precaution, but have since been lifted, police said.

"A controlled explosion has been carried out by specialist officers and the police cordons have now been lifted," the capital's Metropolitan Police said on X.

LBC News reported earlier that the station had been evacuated. In a previous statement, the police said they were aware of reports online about an incident "in the vicinity of Euston station" and that cordons were in place as a precaution.

It came after a similar incident on Friday morning outside the US Embassy in south London, which saw emergency services carry out a controlled explosion of a suspect package. It was later determined to have been a "hoax device", police said.

Around the same time, police were called to London's second-largest airport at 8.20am following the discovery of a "suspected prohibited item" in luggage, prompting the evacuation of a large part of its south terminal. Police deployed a bomb disposal unit as a precaution.

Police officers with a dog monitor passengers at Gatwick Airport following a security incident at the south terminal. EPA

A number of flights to and from the south terminal were cancelled, including at least 16 departures and 13 arrivals by British Airways. Other flights continued to depart but were only carrying passengers who had passed through security before the evacuation.

Thousands of passengers were seen outside the terminal and the surrounding area in videos posted online after the terminal shut for several hours. Emergency foil blankets were distributed to some of the passengers who were waiting in the cold, social media pictures showed.