Charlottetown Airport evacuated Monday afternoon after false alarm
'They thought it looked like the makings of a bomb potentially'
Charlottetown Airport was evacuated this afternoon at about 4:15 after a bag that was being screened set off an alarm.
"One of the CATSA employees saw what they thought was a suspicious package inside one of the bags that was being screened, and as a precautionary measure they pulled the alarm," said airport CEO Doug Newson.
"They thought it looked like the makings of a bomb potentially." Newson wouldn't say exactly what was found in the bag.
Airport officials called Charlottetown Police and evacuated the building.
It turned out there was nothing noteworthy in the luggage — it was a false alarm.
Everything returned to normal within about 12 minutes, Newson said.
The evacuation resulted in one flight being delayed, he said.
"We would rather take a slight delay on a flight and play the safe route just in case it was something more serious," Newson said.
"It was the right thing to do, the safe thing to do."
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With files from Stephanie vanKampen