Panic gripped passengers momentarily on Sunday evening at Boston’s Logan International Airport after a bomb squad was rushed inside terminal A on the discovery of a potentially suspicious item inside a bag that later turned out to be a worn-out PlayStation video game console.
The PlayStation video game console prompted a bomb scare, leading to evacuations and subsequent delays, according to Massachusetts State Police.
Several passengers at Boston airport were seen sprinting and screaming in Terminal A on Easter holiday after Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents flagged their concerns.
The object was found in a piece of luggage belonging to a passenger on a Delta Air Lines flight, the state police said.
The bomb squad was rushed inside the airport as passengers were evacuated so that officers could sweep the area and investigate the item.
But the suspicious object turned out to be a damaged PlayStation that produced an abnormal image when X-rayed, according to the state police.
“The condition of the console caused abnormalities in the image produced when it was x-rayed, prompting the screeners’ concern,” a spokesperson with the Massachusetts State Police said.
Massachusetts state police gave the “all clear” around 5 pm, an hour after the item was first flagged.
However, the incident caused delays and crowding at the airport.
“I was waiting on something and I just see, like just out of the movies, people like sprinting, screaming out the door,” Shaun Hartwell, a passenger at the airport, told Boston 25 News.
“So I was like I guess I should walk out, so I walked out and everybody flooded out of the airport.”
A passenger, Nico Pisello, said he had never seen anything like this before.
“I checked in early trying to get on my flight, I had my headphones on and out of nowhere I see the whole crowd, people yelling and screaming like it was out of a movie,” he said.
“There was an employee door, I’ve never seen a more scared person in my entire life, won’t let me inside in case I’m the threat,” said Mr Pisello. “I think the craziest part was no other terminal knew what was going on, so I’m on the bus and everybody else is normal and my heart is racing.”
