Electronic Handheld Game Prompts Long Beach Airport Evacuation

LONG BEACH, July 26, 2007 (KABC-TV) (KABC) -- The all-clear was given at Long Beach Airport after a suspicious piece of luggage was deemed to be non-explosive.

Passengers were slowly moved back towards the terminal late Thursday morning.

The airport had been shut down for about two hours, hundreds of people forced out of the terminals, flights delayed and canceled because of a suspicious piece of luggage.

Airport officials say that the package was spotted at approximately 9:30 Thursday morning.

"The item turned out to be a handheld electronic game board in a "raw form" that showed its wiring," says Jennifer Peppin, TSA Spokeswoman.

A TSA inspector made the discovery in a piece of checked luggage. Security then cleared all of the terminals. Firefighters, police, bomb squad personnel moved in shortly after.

Airport officials said that all outgoing flights had been suspended and inbound flights were not allowed to land either.

Again the package was deemed to be non-exploesive. The airport has been reopened and airport personnel have moved back into position.

Get more News »

• Email
• Print
• Report a typo
•