A bag, an explosives-detection dog and how it all led to an airport evacuation last Sunday
The Fort Lauderdale airport terminal that was shut down for more than two hours last weekend came after a sheriff’s K-9 dog indicated repeatedly that there could be an explosive in an unattended bag.
There was none, and the owner was eventually reunited with her forgotten suitcase.
A recap of the precautions taken last Sunday was explained to a great degree when the Broward Sheriff’s Office released documents Friday about the case.
The incident at the departures floor of Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport’s Terminal 1 had prompted an evacuation and temporary road closure that left scores of travelers outside for hours.
The precautions began about 10:30 a.m. Sunday when a passenger flagged down a sheriff’s deputy about an unattended black bag at the ticket kiosk at Southwest Airlines. The canine team at the airport specializes in identifying explosive devices or materials, and within minutes, a K-9 named Pac arrived.
“The K-9 unit searched the bag and had a change in behavior and sat down near the suitcase. This indicated that there may be explosives in the suitcase,” according to the incident report released by authorities Friday.
The deputy had his K-9 partner “check the bag 2-3 more times and each time, Pac would sit after briefly sniffing the suitcase,” according to a report.
Within 12 minutes, after supervisors had been notified, the public started getting ushered out of the building Sunday.
Two bomb squad detectives checked the bag, found no explosives, and issued an all-clear. (The sheriff’s report didn’t say what was in the bag.) Investigators found the owner, who took her bag and booked the next flight home to Tennessee with her family.
At 12:30 p.m. that day, TSA was allowed back into the building, followed by employees.
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The terminal was opened to the public just before 1 p.m. Between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., about 29 flights were affected by this incident, according to Celina Saucedo, assistant director of Aviation/Administration.
The Tennessee woman who had the bag couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.
Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on Twitter @LisaHuriash
