They were resigned to the inconvenience. "I'd rather spend time out here as long as it's safe," Roach said. "I'll deal with a little inconvenience."

Bomb scare closes down PBIA

By Eunice Moscoso and Alexandra Navarro Clifton, Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Monday, April 28, 2003

A Secret Service agent threw Palm Beach International Airport into chaos Sunday when baggage screeners feared he was carrying a bomb.

PBIA was evacuated, incoming flights were diverted and the airport was closed to ground transportation for nearly three hours after the agent triggered alarms with an explosive testing device used to check security screening at airports.

It was unclear why the agent was carrying the device. The Secret Service said the agent was on "official duty" and authorized to carry it. The agency would not elaborate.

The agent, who was not identified, was being quizzed by the FBI and Transportation Safety Administration investigators late Sunday, said Brian Turmail, a TSA spokesman in Washington.

"This device is intended to trigger an explosives detection machine," Turmail said. "The system worked."

The device, detected in the agent's checked luggage, worked too well -- throwing PBIA into paralyzing high alert. Incoming flights were rerouted to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando while outgoing flights were cancelled. Some passengers were stranded on the tarmac, ordered to stay put until the situation was sorted out. Meanwhile, traffic backed up on streets leading to the airport after it was sealed by more than 50 deputies.

The chaos was triggered about 5:45 p.m. when a TSA baggage handler noticed something unusual about the contents of a piece of luggage, Palm Beach County Sheriff's spokeswoman Diane Carhart said.

The sheriff's bomb squad X-rayed the bag and determined it contained the components of a bomb, Carhart said.

Within minutes the entire terminal was cleared of about 500 passengers and airport employees. As thunderstorms gathered, deputies urged people to seek shelter inside the long-term parking garage. Entire families stood at the curb and atop their luggage -- waiting for the all-clear. A woman slipped on a curb, suffering minor injuries, and was taken away by an ambulance.

As Concourse C was evacuated, Ken Hughes hurried over to Concourse A to get something to eat. He had just ordered a cheeseburger when deputies ordered him to leave without his meal.

Hughes, who had just bought a house in Port St. Lucie, was trying to get back to New York. "I expected this to happen at JFK, not here," he said.

Cars waiting to enter the airport backed up on Belvedere Road and Australian Avenue, some with their emergency lights flashing to avoid getting rear-ended. Frustrated drivers stood outside their cars, unsure what had happened. Cars crawling by triggered at least one accident along Belvedere. At one point deputies ordered hundreds of drivers to move along in hopes of unclogging the street.

Denise Hernandez of West Palm Beach was trying to pick up her husband, a teacher at DreyfoosSchool of the Arts. She said he was flying back from a competition in Boston -- with more than 60 band members in tow.

"I can't move," Hernandez said. "They're probably on the tarmac just sitting there. They don't even have their instruments with them to play."

At the airport, people waiting in the parking garage had no access to bathrooms. One woman, who arrived just minutes before being evacuated, was eager to get her diabetic husband some food.

"They're not at all organized," said Bernice Rock of Boynton Beach, who was picking up her sister.

Passengers forced to wait in arriving aircraft fared better.

Wellington resident John Lehmann, who arrived on an American Airlines flight from Boston, said attendants distributed food that would have been served to first-class passengers.

"It wasn't too bad," he said of the wait.

JetBlue and Continental passengers got drinks -- no alcohol -- and snacks to pass the time. Bonnie Giacovelli's service dog, a Newfoundland named Lakhota, entertained the other stranded Continental passengers.

Delta Flight 181 from La Guardia was scheduled to arrive in West Palm Beach at 7:33 p.m. Instead it landed at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

Passenger Ed Susman said the passengers were told there had been a "security breach." Rather than get on one of the buses provided to shuttle passengers to PBIA, Susman and three others shared a rented Ford Focus to drive back.

"We just met in the baggage area," Susman said. "I thought this would be easier. This way we can drive to our homes."

After attending a wedding in West Palm Beach, Benda Roach and his family were trying to get home to Macon, Ga. His wife returned their rental car, but once the airport closed, they were separated. Roach, his 7-month-old son and his daughter huddled under a canopy outside the garage, waiting to get back into the airport.

They were resigned to the inconvenience. "I'd rather spend time out here as long as it's safe," Roach said. "I'll deal with a little inconvenience."

Hernandez said she was concerned that the bomb might be real, but was comforted by the calm people around her.

"It is South Florida," Hernandez said. "You never know. Anything can happen here."

Staff writers Nirvi Shah, Rochelle Brenner and Eliot Kleinberg contributed to this story.

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/auto/epaper/editions/monday/news_e3ca0b4c123f22780076.html