Posted on 05/12/2003 6:26:03 AM PDT by Puppage
NEW YORK -- A terminal at LaGuardia Airport was evacuated for an hour late Sunday when screeners lost track of a suspicious bag, the Transportation Security Administration said.
The evacuation was ordered at 7:15 p.m. after security screeners operating an X-ray machine for carry-on luggage at the Delta Air Lines terminal spotted what appeared to be a weapon in a bag, TSA spokesman Mark Hatfield said.
While hand-searching what they thought was the piece of luggage, they realized they had grabbed the wrong bag and a passenger had taken the suspicious bag into the terminal, Hatfield said.
Security officials then evacuated the terminal, swept the area and began to re-screen nearly 1,500 Delta and Northwest Airlines passengers, creating severe delays. The terminal, one of seven, reopened at 8:25 p.m.
The TSA spokesman said he didn't know what screeners thought they saw in the bag. No weapon was immediately found.
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