Sort of Off Topic: Game in bag prompts airport evacuation
LONG BEACH, Calif. — A suspicious item in checked luggage that
prompted the evacuation of a terminal at Long Beach Airport on Thursday
turned out to be an electronic game, authorities said.
Several
hundred people were evacuated from the terminal for about 90 minutes
and five arriving aircraft were held on the tarmac until the all-clear
was given.
Transportation Security Administration screeners
spotted the suspicious item while X-raying a checked bag around 9:30
a.m., agency spokeswoman Jennifer Peppin said.
The item turned out to be a handheld electronic game board in a "raw form" that showed its wiring, she said.
The passenger worked for "some sort of game or toy company," she added.
Firefighters, police and a bomb squad were called to the airport, about 25 miles south of downtown Los Angeles.
The Associated Press
July 26, 2007
Source: The Associated Press via
Houston Chronicle