"Security breach at San Diego's Lindbergh Field; 400 evacuated"

Friday, March 29, 2002 

Security breach at Lindbergh; 400 evacuated 
By Pauline Repard 
THE SAN DIEGO (CA) UNION-TRIBUNE


A security breach at Lindbergh Field last night prompted evacuation of
as many as 400 passengers from a Southwest Airline boarding area. No one
was injured. 

All the evacuated passengers and their carry-on bags had to be
rescreened before the passengers could board their flights, said airport
spokesman Bryan Enarson. 

Another airport source said a woman's shoes tested positive for residue
of a chemical that can be used in explosives, and later she couldn't be
found. A security screener had given back the shoes before the test
results were known, so she walked away. 

Airport security is run by a new federal agency, the Transportation
Safety Administration. No one at the agency's Washington, D.C., office
was available to comment last night. 

The incident began at 6:40 p.m. in Terminal One, at a Southwest Airlines
rotunda with eight boarding gates, Enarson said. He said everyone in the
area, who had already passed through screening and carry-on bag
X-raying, was escorted out. 

They were allowed back through the security station about 7:30 p.m. This
time, no one's shoes tested positive for the chemical, the airport
source said. 

Enarson said four flights were delayed about an hour, but he did not
know their destinations. He estimated that each plane may have carried
up to 100 passengers. 

In December, about 100 passengers were evacuated from an airport area
when a woman was caught with a knife in her carry-on bag. She was
allowed to put the knife in a bag checked into the plane's luggage
compartment.


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