Abandoned Baggage Causes Evacuation at NCE
Jackie Reddy July 03, 2017
Passengers were evacuated at the airport in the southern French city late last week while the bags were destroyed in a controlled explosion.
Nice Côte d’Azur International Airport (NCE) was evacuated last Friday evening as authorities destroyed a piece of abandoned luggage in a controlled explosion, the Daily Star reports. Eyewitnesses say that the items were disposed of in two separate blasts.
Photos on social media showed travelers standing outside the terminal as authorities carried out the explosions. Commenting on the incident, passenger Doug Leddin tweeted, “Loud bang gone off inside Nice airport. Most likely a controlled explosion,” before adding, “Second bang/explosion has gone off. Feels very calm, like it’s controlled.”
However, another passenger, Briton Roy Watkins, told the Sun that police authorities were eager to clear the terminal as quickly as possible. “I was collecting my boarding pass when cops carrying guns started shouting in French ‘out, out, out,” he said.
“The airport looks like it is in complete lockdown. There are armed police at the entrances which have been taped off,” Watkins added. He said that passengers were allowed back into the terminal only after the abandoned luggage had been destroyed by authorities.
The security alert comes nearly a year after Nice was hit by a terrorist attack. Last July, a gunman deliberately drove a truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day in Nice’s seafront Promenade des Anglais area. The attack resulted in the deaths of 86 people and left more than 400 injured.
France has experienced a spate of terror attacks since early January 2015, with police and security authorities on high alert in public places and at airports around the country.
[Photo: Shutterstock]
