Atlanta International Airport Terminal Evacuated for Suspicious Package
Atlanta Airport Terminal 3 Tarmac
Atlanta International Airport Terminal E was evacuated and several flights were delayed when a suspicious package was found today.
‘Aviation sources told Channel 2′s Aaron Diamant that someone spotted a package described as a box with wires hanging from it near the Customs and Immigration area of Terminal E around 4:30 p.m.’
Several gates at Terminal E were evacuated and passengers on an Air France flight were removed from the plane as well.
‘One traveler told Channel 2 Action News they were not allowed to get off their plane until everything was cleared up.
“The captain came on and said we were on lock down and we would not leave until he didn’t know when and there were people that were not even allowed to get on this plane. They are still sitting in the passenger area. So we’re just told not to get up,” traveler Freddie Nichols said.’
A spokesman from Delta Airlines says they have found the owner of the package but did not release any further information.
Everything was reopened at 6:15 PM EDT.
Category: Airnation
My wife and I happened to be part of this evacuation from Terminal E. We had gone through Immigration and had just gotten down the escalator when we were stopped by an officer and redirected away from the baggage claim area; 5 minutes later a group of about 50 people including ourselves were ushered completely out of the area and through the security line for reboarding and were told that “the airlines will get your checked bags to their final destination”. Very reassuring coming from a customs officer that was creating panic among passengers. After exiting the TSA check point I did look out the window and saw the Air France plane surrounded by Atlanta Police and Fire department vehicles; i wonder how long it took to deboard that Boeing 777 which im sure was full. We never did find out what was going on and fortunately our bags did find us in Chicago. Oh well, just keep your suspicious looking packages at home where they belong.
Thanks for the account John. The TSA and FBI like to be as mum as possible. We still don’t know what the package was…just that is had wires coming out of it! :)