BWI Garage Evacuated For Suspicious Garbage Bags: Report

LINTHICUM, MD — A parking garage at BWI Thurgood Marshall International Airport was temporarily closed Friday evening for police activity, airport officials reported.

By 6:40 p.m., officials said that the investigation had concluded and the garage had reopened.

The daily garage and cell phone lot had been evacuated around 5:30 p.m. after authorities received an "alert" signaling the possible presence of explosives at the parking area, according to WBAL, which had a chopper over the scene.

The bomb squad was called in to probe what turned out to be eight non-threatening trash bags that had been left unattended, WBAL Radio reported.

At 6:26 p.m., the investigation was complete, and BWI officials said that the garage was reopening.

Despite a tweet from BWI that airline operations were not impacted, passengers replied that their flights were delayed or diverted as a result of the investigation.

According to Flight Aware, delays were 45 minutes for arrivals and 56.5 minutes for departures as of 7:30 p.m. at BWI.

The BWI arrival and departure module showed delays for both arrivals and departures as well.

Check the status of a flight here through Flight Aware or on the BWI website.

_{Above screen shots from BWI arrival and departure modules at 7:30 p.m.}

Around the same time the investigation was going on at BWI, the bomb squad was requested at another location nearby. At the BB&T on Baltimore Annapolis Boulevard in Glen Burnie, there was an alleged threat as well. That incident was 3.5 miles away.

See Also: Suspect Claims Bomb Inside Backpack At Glen Burnie: Report

The disruption at BWI comes at the beginning of a long holiday weekend when travel is expected to spike.

“The Fourth of July is typically the most traveled holiday of the summer, and this year will be no different. What’s different this year, however, is that it will be the busiest on record, thanks to stronger overall economic growth, employment, and stronger consumer sentiment, as well as rising incomes, compared to last year’s holiday,” said Ragina Cooper Averella, public and government affairs manager for AAA Mid-Atlantic.

Related: 4th Of July 2017 Airline Travel: Best Days To Fly, Airports And Airlines To Avoid

File photo of BWI by Ken Lund via Flickr, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.