Bomb Scare at Perpignan Airport: Flight to Morocco Grounded as Experts Investigate Suspicious Luggage

More fear than harm at Perpignan airport on Tuesday around noon. A possible presence of explosives in a traveler’s suitcase during the X-ray scan caused panic among the passengers. Around 9 a.m. on Tuesday, February 27, 2024 at Perpignan airport, explosives were detected in the "cabin baggage of one of the travelers" during the X-ray, details Denis Leluc, the airport director, to Franceinfo.

The airport terminal will be evacuated immediately. The management directs all passengers and airport staff present on site to a hangar, while the bomb disposal experts remove any doubt. Shortly after the evacuation, a plane from Agadir (Morocco) lands and stops at the end of the runway with its passengers on board. The bomb disposal experts arrive from Montpellier a little after 12 p.m. Twenty minutes later, they blow up the suitcase. "It’s a lesser evil," concludes the director of Perpignan airport. It was the first evacuation "for two or three years".

According to the statements of the owner - a major in the Italian navy - of the suitcase, it contained "personal effects, equipment and multimedia batteries and a cheese", details the communication officer of the Perpignan public prosecutor’s office. After the reopening of the airport at 12:40 p.m., the plane that left Agadir for Perpignan boarded the following passengers and left for the Moroccan city.