Duluth airport terminal evacuated with discovery of unattended bag

DULUTH, Minn. – People were allowed back into the Duluth International Airport terminal about 2 p.m. today after an evacuation earlier in the afternoon.

An explosive ordnance disposal team from the nearby Air National Guard Base was investigating the source of the evacuation: a piece of baggage left near Gate 1 that was unaccounted for.

Though the terminal was closed, the airport was not shut down, said Brian Ryks, director of the Airport Authority.

Two flights departed prior to the discovery of the bag, he said.

A plane that landed about 1:30 p.m. was moved to Monaco Air, away from the airport terminal. Cars of people who had arrived to pick up passengers were lined up along Haines and Airport roads, where access to the airport was blocked.

Deborah Amundson of Duluth was headed for the airport to pick up her husband coming in on a 1:30 p.m. Delta flight from Detroit when she encountered cars pulled to the side of the road, a cluster of ambulances and people milling about.

The plane landed on schedule but was diverted away from the terminal.

“I knew something was wrong because they were taxiing toward the terminal, then turned into the Monaco Air area,” Craig Amundson said via cell phone from the plane at 1:45 p.m.

Staff had informed the approximately 15 passengers who remained on the plane that the terminal had been evacated.

“They haven’t told us how long,” he said. “Everybody is just sitting there, waiting. It’s pretty much resigned that we’re going to be here.”

His wife, learning a suspicious package prompted the evacuation, was relieved it wasn’t an accident on the plane.

Duluth Transit Authority buses were housing evacuees outside the perimeter of the airport, said Duluth police spokesman Brad Wick.

The Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune is owned by Forum Communications Co.

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