Travellers at Boston’s Logan International Airport faced panic, confusion and plenty of delays on Easter Sunday after an evacuation was prompted over a suspicious item found in a piece of luggage.
The culprit? Nothing but an old, slightly degraded video game console.
Footage posted to Twitter shows dozens of people exiting the airport’s Terminal A just after 4 p.m. on Sunday.
“You have to exit, this is mandatory,” a person can be heard saying over the PA system, telling airport staff to also evacuate the area.
According to the Boston Globe, TSA agents were screening checked luggage when they found “a potentially suspicious item in a bag” and called in the State Police Bomb Squad to take a closer look.
“Troopers responded and, after investigation and research, determined that the item was a PlayStation video game console with a degraded condition caused by age or damage,” a statement from police said.
“The condition of the console caused abnormalities in the image produced when it was x-rayed, prompting the screeners’ concern.”
Would-be passenger Jamey Miller told the Globe he was walking through the airport, “zoning out,” when all of a sudden he noticed people running toward the airport exits.
“I was looking towards the area people were running from and saw no signs of violence. I even asked someone ‘What’s happening?’ And she said, ‘I don’t know, just run!’ ”
Police gave the all-clear shortly after 5:00 p.m. and allowed passengers to return to the terminal.