Rucksack with Koran on top sparks airport bomb alert
The suspect package that sparked the second major security scare at Dublin Airport this week was a bag inadvertently left behind by a departing passenger, it was confirmed tonight.
Irish police said they had traced the owner of the bag and were satisfied there was nothing sinister or malicious about the alert which grounded flights and disrupted thousands of travellers.
A copy of the Koran placed on top of the suspect rucksack left unattended in the arrivals hall had raised fears on the first anniversary of the 7/7 London bombings.
Airport authorities launched a ‘red alert’ warning shortly before 8am and evacuated the main terminal, while Gardai sealed the building off and called in the Army bomb disposal team.
A remote-controlled explosion revealed the bag to contain medication and some clothes and the airport was deemed safe by around 9.30am.
Flights continued to land during the scare but none were allowed to take off. About 20 planes with passengers on board were stranded on the runway.
Some 60 flights and around 12,000 passengers in total were affected and disruption was continuing tonight as airlines and airport staff battled to catch up with the backlog.
“It will take some time for the operations to get back to normal,” a Dublin Airport Authority spokeswoman said.
She added that staff and passengers were evacuated within minutes of the alarm being raised.
“We take situations like this extremely seriously. We don’t evacuate the airport unless we deem it necessary and on this occasion it was felt necessary to do so,” she said.
There was massive disruption on roads around the airport, according to the Automobile Association.
Cars were abandoned on the Old Airport Road, which remained open, and on the M1 slip road, which was closed for a short time, said AA spokeswoman Alison Byrne.
On Tuesday, some 9,000 passengers and 50 flights were disrupted when a man walked into the arrivals hall and allegedly claimed he was carrying a bomb.
The man was arrested and later charged while the threat was declared a hoax after Army bomb experts examined baggage he was carrying.
