There were some frightening moments at the Chicago Midway International Airport on Monday afternoon when the bomb squad had to be called in response to an explosion. A piece of luggage reportedly exploded at the gate as bags were being loaded into the plane. The scene was quickly cleared by the bomb squad and no one was hurt.
It was first reported that a cell phone charger or battery exploded on its own inside a piece of luggage, but Chief Communications Officer for the Chicago Police Department Anthony Guglielmi later confirmed that the bag had been run over by a luggage vehicle, causing the explosion.
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“Bag was affected by a possible cell phone battery or battery charger. Incident was cleared by the bomb squad and no one was injured. Thanks to everyone for being vigilant and to the firefighters, officers and technicians who assisted,” Guglielmi initially said in a tweet. But less than a half-hour later, he tweeted, “Further investigation reveals the bag was actually run over by a luggage vehicle and did not combust or explode on its own.”
Further investigation reveals the bag was actually run over by a luggage vehicle and did not combust or explode on its own.
— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) October 21, 2019
Audio from the call from the airport to emergency dispatch was released. “Can you send all available units to Adam-2 on the ramp,” the man calling it in says. “I have a Volaris flight reporting a bag that has exploded. As they were trying to load the bag onto the aircraft, it exploded on the baggage belt.”
There have already been several scary airplane incidents this month. Last week, the private plane carrying Prince Harry and Meghan Markle had to turn around and make an emergency landing after encountering a major lightning storm. A journalist from PEOPLE who was on board said, “Phew. Landed! But in Lahore. A terrifying electrical storm hit as we tried to land at Islamabad. Lightning seemed to be crashing around the right wing. Despite the best efforts of the pilot of William and Kate’s RAF Voyager plane we couldn’t couldn’t land there.”
Earlier this month, a World War II-era bomber plane crashed and burst into flames at Connecticut’s Bradley International Airport. There were 13 people on board the vintage aircraft when it crashed, killing five of them.
