A fire at Sydney Airport’s international terminal has forced passengers to be evacuated and delayed hundreds trying to get through the departures gate.

At 2:39pm yesterday afternoon, Airservices Australia announced on Twitter that aviation fire fighters had put out a fire in Terminal 1 at Sydney Airport.

“Passengers have been evacuated and delays can be expected for those departing,” the post read.

According to witness Tara Moroney, the culprit was supposedly batteries from a robotics conference that had been dropped and sparked a fire in the screening area of Sydney Airport’s international terminal.

Sydney International Airport Fire Culprit – supposedly a battery from a robotics conference that’s been in town dropped and sparked fire in screening area. Fire fighters have it in this box. pic.twitter.com/UyMxNFtCZK

— Tara Moroney (@TaraMoroney7) July 10, 2019

“Man was going through security, batteries were in his backpack and covered in tape,” Moroney wrote on Twitter.

“Customs/security officer at security asked to see inside his backpack. Security guard took the batteries out of the bag and proceeded to try to take off the tape.

“They used scissors to cut through the tape and smoke started to come from the batteries.”

Other photos shared on social media and published by media outlets showed smoke billowing through the duty-free area of the terminal, along with hundreds of passengers banked-up at the at international departures gate.

#fire #SydneyAirport #delays pic.twitter.com/1cS7VSqpTp

— LifeFlyingBy (@LifeFlyingBy) July 10, 2019

At 3:07pm yesterday, Sydney Airport announced that processing had recommenced at the terminal.

Processing has recommenced at T1 International after an issue with a battery caused smoke at Departures. Thanks for your patience. #sydneyairport

— Sydney Airport ✈️ (@SydneyAirport) July 10, 2019

It’s understood that none of the local airlines suffered major delays as a result of the fire.

Travel Weekly has contacted Sydney Airport for comment.