SAN FRANCISCO: A bomb scare at San Francisco airport sparked an evacuation of the international terminal on Friday evening, local police said.

By about midnight, operations had returned to normal, the airport said.

Officers received a bomb threat and found a “suspicious package,” the media relations team of the San Francisco Police Department wrote on Twitter during the early evening.

“Int’l (terminal) evacuated, EOD Unit investigating. We will provide live updates as the investigation continues. Expect delays as this may interrupt current airport operations.”

“Due to ongoing police activity the Int’l Terminal is being evacuated,” airport officials wrote on Twitter.

But just after midnight, the airport, which handled more than 3 million passengers in 2020 according to its own most up-to-date figures, said: “Police have cleared the Int’l Terminal. SFO resumes normal operations.” It added that local rail links to the hub had started working again.

The police force added on Twitter that “officers have searched @flySFO Intl Term removed several supicious packages.” “Safe n clear to enter, resuming airport operations.”

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2022