Airport terminal in NY evacuated over unattended vehicle

New York, Sep 23 A terminal at New York's busy LaGuardia airport was today evacuated after authorities found an unattended vehicle outside the terminal, causing confusion and security concerns among passengers.

Terminal B of the airport was evacuated late last night (local time) after a man allegedly drove the vehicle to the terminal and ran way after abandoning it there, media reports said.

Armed Security personnel and bomb squad arrived at the scene and investigated the vehicle. The NYPD bomb squad responded to the scene and found that the vehicle was safe, reopening the terminal after the nearly hour-long lockdown, a report in ABC 7 said.

Port Authority had confirmed they were investigating an unattended vehicle at the terminal and everyone was evacuated from the area as a precaution about 11 pm. Bomb Squad swept the area and said the vehicle was deemed safe. The terminal reopened about 12:30 am.

Those evacuated from the airport tweeted about the chaos at the airport during the shutdown, as some were seen in video walking towards Terminal C with their luggage. All traffic and in and out of LaGuardia Airport was also stalled during the investigation, but resumed after the terminal reopened.

Last month, law enforcement authorities evacuated parts of the J F K International Airport here after reports emerged that shots had been fired in one of the terminals. However, it was later determined that no shots had been fired after a thorough search of the area.

PTI