Los Angeles – A terminal at Los Angeles International Airport was partly evacuated Thursday when an item found in luggage triggered a security alert. The object turned out to be a sprinkler pipe.
The item, in a checked bag, prompted the closure of a departure area, ticket counter and stores in the upper level of Terminal One shortly after 11:30 a.m., airport authorities said. Dozens of people were sent outside to the sidewalk.
A bomb squad was called and a 300-foot perimeter was set up around a screening machine that detected something resembling a pipe bomb, said Nico Melendez, a federal Transportation Security Administration spokesman.
Two arriving Southwest Airlines flights were held at the west end of the airport rather than being allowed to roll up to the terminal.
Eventually, the owner of the luggage was located and turned out to be a managing partner in a sprinkler company, airport spokesman Marshall Lowe said.
