A TSA agent and 20-year Army veteran, Ricardo Perez, is being hailed a hero after he grabbed a smoking bag at Orlando International Airport and removed it from a heavily trafficked passenger check-in area.
Although the bag ultimately proved to contain a smoking lithium battery that had just exploded, Perez had no way of knowing what was inside when he rushed over to remove it from the passenger area.
In video footage released by the TSA, passengers waiting to check in for their flight can be seen fleeing in panic as the bag begins to smoke. As travelers rush away from the bag, Perez heads towards it to investigate and then grabs it and carries it away.
According to WFTV 9 ABC, Perez said he thought the bag contained an improvised explosive device and moved it so he could place it between a concrete pillar and a concrete planter to help reduce any damage the unknown device might cause.
While no one was hurt in the incident, which occurred late Friday afternoon, many confused the sounds from the exploding bag with that of a gunshot, and the incident caused significant delays and cancellations. People flying in and out of Orlando are understandably jittery as an armed suspect was arrested there less than two weeks ago.
"As a result of the incident, a ground stop was issued and a number of flights were held while passengers were allowed back into the building and security checkpoints reactivated," read a statement released by Orlando International Airport.
Further, TSA directed the airport to have all passengers at every gate as well as who'd already boarded their flights to return to undergo a security check for a second time, causing massive travel headaches. Some gates remained closed for 2 ½ hours while were shuttered for nearly four hours.
Ultimately, the explosion resulted in the cancellation of 24 flights.
In a series of tweets, the Orlando Police urged people to remain calm while notifying them that no shots had been fired at the airport.
In response to the incident, Phil Brown, the CEO of the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, released the following statement:
To those at Orlando International Airport last evening, November 10, 2017:
First, I would like to thank everyone involved in last evening's incident, customers and staff, for their focus on security and safety, patience and compassion towards each other. What started as a typical Friday evening quickly became anything but. There seems to be some confusion on exactly what occurred last evening, I am happy to share what I know.
An incident occurred on the "A" side of the main terminal outside of the security checkpoint for gates 1-59. A passenger entering the checkpoint had a camera in their carry-on when apparently, the lithium ion battery for the camera caught fire and the bag began to smoke. Realizing this, the passenger of course immediately dropped the bag and those around them moved away from it.
Emergency services arrived quickly and moved the bag farther away from passengers queued for security. Unfortunately, with all of the events occurring around the world some witnesses panicked and self-evacuated the area dropping their carry-on luggage and knocking over the stanchions queueing the checkpoint. Others hearing the luggage being dropped, stanchions falling, and rapid movement mistook the sounds as gunfire and within seconds a spontaneous evacuation of the main terminal occurred. During this time emergency staff attempted to calm, gain control, gather everyone back into the building and resume operations. We attempted various methods of communicating but as everyone is aware, a few trying to communicate a message to this large of a mass is a daunting task but efforts were continued throughout the event. Communications is and will always be an issue in this type of a situation but please know that we will always try our best in communicating all available information to our customers and our staff.
In an abundance of precaution, the TSA directed the airport to have all passengers at every gate be brought back to the main terminal for rescreening, including all that had boarded a departing flight and those on aircraft awaiting to take off. No one could go to the airside until this was accomplished and gate areas were found to be secure. In this type of situation, we fully complied and fully supported this directive because above all, safety and security is our primary objective.
Understandably, this event was very time-consuming. Gates 70-129 passenger-screening operations resumed about 2.5 hours after the event occurred and Gates 1-59 about 4 hours after.
Much of the delay stemmed from a lack of gate space for returning aircraft and aircraft that needed to be moved/relocated. In noting similar events, I would like to commend all of our staff and the airport community for their roles and actions in this event. And again, a credit to you all with a huge thanks from us for your understanding of the situation and your patience. Thank you and we hope to see you in the terminal soon.
[READMORE]READ MORE: Stand Off, Arrest, Delays at Orlando Airport[/READMORE]
The incident could be bad news for photographers, who are already facing increased scrutiny from TSA. The agency recently mandated that passengers must now separate all electronics-not just laptops-from the rest of their carry-on items.
Lithium batteries are already prohibited in checked baggage on most domestic flights as a security precaution.
The issue became a global conversation piece when the Department of Transportation called the Samsung Note 7 a "forbidden hazardous material" and prohibited the devices from entering any aircraft, whether in the cargo hold or in the main cabin, for fear they could explode in-flight.
Although Samsung has since corrected the problem with the battery, there continues to be an increasing number of onboard incidences with lithium batteries catching on fire.
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