craziness
read this article...
it was my suitcase..... it was totally insane, i cant tell you how insane. they questioned Allison and i seperately, and all that sort of stuff. it's funny now. the article is from the halifax herald.
Security scare clears airport
Item seen on luggage X-ray turns out to be harmless
By JOHN GILLIS Staff Reporter
Hundreds of passengers and employees were evacuated Monday from Halifax International Airport after a screener spotted a suspicious item in a checked bag.
The alert was sounded at 2:15 p.m. by security staff screening luggage behind the ticket counters.
The item was picked up on an X-ray, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority spokes-woman Anna-Karina Tabunar said from Ottawa. The Halifax International Airport Authority and the RCMP were immediately notified.
"Through one of the high levels of X-ray screening, he noticed something suspicious, a potential threat item, and that’s what set everything in motion," Ms. Tabunar said.
She wouldn’t say what was suspicious about the item, although it was not a bomb.
The airport authority sounded a fire alarm and ordered a full evacuation at 2:27, said spokeswoman Gina Connell.
Sources said the threat was classified as a Level 5 alert, the airport’s most serious.
It took several minutes to clear everyone to the parking area in front of the airport, but officials allowed people back into one end of the building soon after.
"Due to the location of the suspicious bag, we were able to bring them in to the domestic arrivals area while the investigation was happening so they weren’t standing out in the cold the entire time," Ms. Connell said.
She said about 350 travellers and airport and airline staff were evacuated.
The RCMP’s bomb-sniffing dog team was on scene and the bomb disposal unit was dispatched to investigate the package, said RCMP spokesman Const. Joe Taplin.
Police opened the bag and determined there was no bomb inside. They questioned two people travelling together who had checked the bag but Const. Taplin did not expect they would face charges.
The airport was cleared to reopen at about 3:30 p.m.
Many airport staff remained outside for most of the evacuation but wouldn’t speak to reporters.
Before the all-clear, passengers who were crammed in the arrivals area, much of which is blocked off for construction, were calm but confused.
"They got a call about a bomb threat," said Wade Lewis of Prince Edward Island, who was waiting with his family. "That was all that was said. We were outside for half an hour or more."
Jon Carnero of New York said he wished he knew what was going on.
"First they said it was fire and then somebody said it was a bomb," Mr. Carnero said.
He said passengers had been asked to move down a small hill and beyond the metered parking area before the arrivals area was reopened.
Debbie Waite of Calgary was a few people back from entering pre-boarding security when the fire alarm went off and she found herself a few people from the end of a very long line once she was allowed to return.
"We’ve heard rumblings about a bomb scare or dynamite found," she said. "I don’t know if that’s gossip, but it was from a staff (person)."
Ms. Connell said everyone waiting to catch flights had to be screened, including those who had already been through security once.
But she said the incident happened at a slow point in the day. Only one arrival and one departure were affected during the evacuation and airlines reported only "minor delays" afterward.
Long lines formed immediately at all ticket counters once people were allowed to return to that part of the airport but travellers seemed to take the backlogs in stride.
Ms. Tabunar said every checked bag goes through some sort of screening, whether by X-ray or other means. She was not aware of any Canadian airport having to be evacuated due to a suspicious package in her nine months with the security agency.
( jgillis@herald.ca)
it was my suitcase..... it was totally insane, i cant tell you how insane. they questioned Allison and i seperately, and all that sort of stuff. it's funny now. the article is from the halifax herald.
Security scare clears airport
Item seen on luggage X-ray turns out to be harmless
By JOHN GILLIS Staff Reporter
Hundreds of passengers and employees were evacuated Monday from Halifax International Airport after a screener spotted a suspicious item in a checked bag.
The alert was sounded at 2:15 p.m. by security staff screening luggage behind the ticket counters.
The item was picked up on an X-ray, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority spokes-woman Anna-Karina Tabunar said from Ottawa. The Halifax International Airport Authority and the RCMP were immediately notified.
"Through one of the high levels of X-ray screening, he noticed something suspicious, a potential threat item, and that’s what set everything in motion," Ms. Tabunar said.
She wouldn’t say what was suspicious about the item, although it was not a bomb.
The airport authority sounded a fire alarm and ordered a full evacuation at 2:27, said spokeswoman Gina Connell.
Sources said the threat was classified as a Level 5 alert, the airport’s most serious.
It took several minutes to clear everyone to the parking area in front of the airport, but officials allowed people back into one end of the building soon after.
"Due to the location of the suspicious bag, we were able to bring them in to the domestic arrivals area while the investigation was happening so they weren’t standing out in the cold the entire time," Ms. Connell said.
She said about 350 travellers and airport and airline staff were evacuated.
The RCMP’s bomb-sniffing dog team was on scene and the bomb disposal unit was dispatched to investigate the package, said RCMP spokesman Const. Joe Taplin.
Police opened the bag and determined there was no bomb inside. They questioned two people travelling together who had checked the bag but Const. Taplin did not expect they would face charges.
The airport was cleared to reopen at about 3:30 p.m.
Many airport staff remained outside for most of the evacuation but wouldn’t speak to reporters.
Before the all-clear, passengers who were crammed in the arrivals area, much of which is blocked off for construction, were calm but confused.
"They got a call about a bomb threat," said Wade Lewis of Prince Edward Island, who was waiting with his family. "That was all that was said. We were outside for half an hour or more."
Jon Carnero of New York said he wished he knew what was going on.
"First they said it was fire and then somebody said it was a bomb," Mr. Carnero said.
He said passengers had been asked to move down a small hill and beyond the metered parking area before the arrivals area was reopened.
Debbie Waite of Calgary was a few people back from entering pre-boarding security when the fire alarm went off and she found herself a few people from the end of a very long line once she was allowed to return.
"We’ve heard rumblings about a bomb scare or dynamite found," she said. "I don’t know if that’s gossip, but it was from a staff (person)."
Ms. Connell said everyone waiting to catch flights had to be screened, including those who had already been through security once.
But she said the incident happened at a slow point in the day. Only one arrival and one departure were affected during the evacuation and airlines reported only "minor delays" afterward.
Long lines formed immediately at all ticket counters once people were allowed to return to that part of the airport but travellers seemed to take the backlogs in stride.
Ms. Tabunar said every checked bag goes through some sort of screening, whether by X-ray or other means. She was not aware of any Canadian airport having to be evacuated due to a suspicious package in her nine months with the security agency.
( jgillis@herald.ca)