It took the Orange County Sheriff’s Department bomb squad more than two hours to secure a baggage claim area at John Wayne Airport and carefully examine a suspicious Thermos to determine it was empty, a lieutenant said Monday.
The “suspicious-looking Thermos” was discovered at 10:15 p.m. Sunday near the opening for oversized luggage at the baggage claim in the airport’s lower level, said sheriff’s Lt. Joe Gaul.
Airport operations ended at 10 p.m. but remaining people in the lower level were urged to leave through the upper level, and roadways leading to lower level parking were closed, including the offramp from the southbound San Diego (405) Freeway to the airport, Gaul said.
Deputies determined the bottle was empty at about 12:30 a.m. and roads were reopened and operations returned to normal, although no flights were scheduled until 7 a.m. and few passengers remained at the airport, he said.
—City News Service