Man held after claiming to have bomb in Dublin airport arrivals

A 59-year-old man remained in custody in Santry Garda station last night following a hoax bomb scare at Dublin airport yesterday afternoon.

Up to 9,000 passengers on about 50 flights were delayed for several hours, and more than 3,000 passengers and staff were evacuated from the terminal building when the man entered the main arrivals hall and claimed he was carrying a bomb.

The incident happened at 1.40pm when the man raised a bag over his head and shouted that it held a bomb. Two members of airport security who were standing nearby immediately apprehended him and pulled the bag to the floor.

Airport police were summoned and the man was removed in an unmarked Garda car to Santry station where he was detained under section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act.

Hundreds of cars were stranded on the roads leading to the airport during the alert, resulting in a huge backlog of passengers trying to get into the airport once it reopened.

All departures yesterday evening were delayed for up to two hours and a number of flights were cancelled, including 16 Ryanair flights to and from Britain and two Ryanair flights on the Dublin to Cork route.

No Aer Lingus flights were cancelled, but a spokeswoman said 10 flights that were arriving or departing from the airport during the incident were directly affected by delays and subsequent services yesterday evening were delayed for up to two hours.

Once the alarm was raised the airport emergency plan was put into action and by 1.50pm, the terminal building was fully evacuated of all passengers and staff.

The Army's bomb disposal unit arrived at the airport at 3.50pm. The bag was X-rayed and, after no suspect materials were found, it was remotely opened. It contained only clothing and paper.

The terminal building was declared safe at 3.15pm and flights, which had been prepared for take off before the alert, were allowed to depart from 3.20pm.

Airport staff returned to the terminal at 3.30pm and passengers who had been waiting at designated points about 200 metres from the building were allowed to return from 3.40pm onwards.

About 50 flights carrying up to 9,000 passengers were using Dublin airport during the two-hour incident. Flights preparing to land at the time of the alert were allowed to proceed and 19 aircraft, including some already-boarded departures, were held on the tarmac for the duration of the alert, but no flights were permitted to depart, according to the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA).

Between 2,500 and 3,000 passengers were evacuated from the terminal. Those in the departures area were brought to the old terminal building, while passengers in arrivals were taken to the multi-storey car park at the front of the building. Passengers who had not yet reached the departures hall were kept at the airport police box at the bottom of the departures ramp.

The evacuation was completed within minutes, a DAA spokeswoman said. "This was a high alert and it was very important that the airport was evacuated quickly, so we were delighted with the passengers' response, which was very calm and orderly and no one was injured during the incident."