Hazmat Crews Find 'Leaky Goo' Onboard American Airlines Plane : JWA

NEWPORT BEACH, CA — Orange County Fire Authority firefighters leave nothing to chance when it comes to hazardous materials, especially at John Wayne International Airport.

A hazmat call Friday turned out to be a poorly packaged lab experiment found in an American Airlines cargo hold, officials said.

No one was sickened during the hazmat incident.

At approximately noon, American Airlines workers unloading an arriving jet from Chicago O'Hare noticed some leaking baggage, a spokesperson for the airline told Patch.

The subsequent hazmat investigation delayed the turn-around flight back to Chicago, he said. Passengers were disembarked with firefighters' assistance and boarded onto a different plane.

According to American Airlines spokesperson Andrew Trull, that flight would land after 7 p.m. in Chicago with passengers and their luggage.

Meanwhile, back at John Wayne, OCFA Hazmat crews suited up to investigate the unknown substance in the original plane, according to OCFA Capt. Greg Barta.

Once inside the cargo hold, they discovered the nature of the leaking goo.

After testing the box, they found it filled with "nonhazardous animal tissue" bound for dissection at an Orange County laboratory.

Medics evaluated the three airline workers who made the gooey discovery.

"No one was injured, and no one was taken to the hospital," Barta said.

All American Airlines workers followed proper protocol at John Wayne International Airport, according to the airline. They reported the leaking package immediately and got passengers "re-planed and on their way" within 15 minutes of their scheduled departure.

It is unclear if the shipper followed proper protocol, and the airlines will investigate.

As for the gooey liquid? There are rules when it comes to transporting such oddities.

"We ship a wide variety of things, from mail to time-critical organ transplants, to pharmaceutical products, and even live sharks," according to the airline spokesperson.

Anyone sending such items as cargo must follow the proper protocol, but sometimes, packaging fails.