Fire breaks out at unused Miami airport tower

MIAMI, July 11 (Reuters) A fire broke out today in a tower under construction at Miami International Airport, but was quickly brought under control, officials said.

Greg Chin, a spokesman for the airport, said the unused building was a ''gate assignment tower.'' The tower is at the massive new North Terminal, part of a 6.2 billion dollar expansion project under way for over a decade and bedeviled by cost overruns, scandals and delays.

''There was a tar kettle on fire,'' a spokeswoman for Miami-Dade county fire and rescue said. ''But apparently everything seems to be under control now.'' Television images showed flames and heavy, black smoke billowing from the tower as fire engines gathered below.

''It's not the real tower, no,'' said a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, the US agency that oversees air safety and runs air traffic control towers.

Chin said there were no reports of injuries and the fire was not terrorism-related.

Construction of a North Terminal at Miami's airport was initially authorized 14 years ago at a cost of 0 million.

But it is still only half-complete and now projected to ultimately cost 2.66 billion dollar.

REUTERS PDS BST0051