US airport evacuated in explosive alert

Washington, Aug 18 (UNI) A terminal of West Virginia airport in the United States was evacuated when a woman passenger's water bottle showed explosive residues.

''The bomb squad is on the site and the woman is being interviewed by the FBI,'' Transportation Security Administration (TSA) sources said.

Security screeners got a positive test from a machine that uses swabs to find traces of explosives. A canine team then got a positive hit for explosives as well.

An airport screener noticed the bottle in the woman's carry-on bag yesterday as she prepared to board a 9:15 am flight to Charlotte, NC and the terminal was evacuated shortly before noon.

All flights from the airport were temporarily suspended and about 100 passengers and airport employees were ordered to leave the terminal.

At least one flight was diverted to Charleston's Yeager Airport, about 60 miles away.

It was the second incident involving a woman passenger. On Wednesday a trans-Atlantic flight was diverted to Boston for security concerns.

A woman, Catherine C Mayo, 59, of Braintree, Vermont, aroused suspicion when she acted strangely on the flight, muttered incoherently about Pakistan and passed several notes to crew members and made comments the crew believed were references to al-Qaida and the September 11 attacks, according to an affidavit filed yesterday.

She appeared in federal court yesterday on charges of interfering with a flight crew on United 923 as it flew from London to Washington on Wednesday.

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