"Disturbance" at CYXU- London

[andrew_c]

All flights have been halted, fire and other emergency services are on scene. Have no clue what the heck is going on, but whatever it is they are not saying it on their radios, I am just listening in. Anyone have any clue whats happening? From what I hear there was a suspicious "person" or "item" and everything has been locked down.

Will have more once I hear whats going on.

[andrew_c]

heh, turned out to be something suspicious as I thought

http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2006/06/01/1609927.html

A grenade-shaped belt buckle stored in a passenger’s checked luggage sparked a total evacuation of the London International Airport early Thursday morning.

The replica pineapple grenade — a buckle on a man’s leather belt — was detected around 6:30 a.m. when the luggage passed through the airport’s security scanning system, said Mike Seabrook, vice-president of the airport.

“It appeared to be an authentic hand grenade,” he said. “Based on that, we viewed it as a legitimate threat.”

More than 200 passengers and staff were ordered to leave the building immediately and ushered out the airport’s front doors, he said.

They were then pushed back farther into the parking lot by London police and security.

“We didn’t know what was going on,” said Avis Car & Truck Rental operator Derek Dorrell.

“It’s funny, I’ve worked more than 25 years at airports and I’ve never been evacuated before.”

The weapon-shaped buckle sparked the only security-related evacuation in the 14 years Seabrook has been with the airport, the vice-president said.

London police and the force’s explosives-disposal unit were called to the scene.

“We’ve had fire alarms and that kind of thing, but this type of evacuation is very rare,” Seabrook said.

The owner of the grenade-shaped belt buckle, a young man from Western Canada, was “surprised, scared and embarrassed” to learn his accessory was behind the airport evacuation, Seabrook added.

Dorrell said airport officials announced the man’s name to the crowds gathered in the parking lot.

At first, no one stepped forward, he said, but soon after, a red-faced young man was escorted into the building by police.

He was forced to leave the belt behind with someone who accompanied him to the airport, Seabrook said.

Three departing flights were slightly delayed by the belt-buckle blunder, he said, but by 8 a.m., service at the airport was back to normal.

Seabrook hopes the incident will encourage passengers to think carefully about what they pack.

“It’s a very important lesson,” he said.

“If it can be viewed as a threat, don’t pack it.”

[bbuse]

This is major excitement for the small London airport!!! I have flown in and out of there many times and know from experience that the security people there were more thorough than what I experienced at other airports, maybe because it isn't a busy airport.

[C-GEPA]

The exact same thing happened here in YYT last week.
Was there a big sale on grenade belt buckles somewhere?

Stupid people want to fly too. :rolleyes:

[DAL767-400ER]

When morons meet paranoid people...