Brave Airport Worker Grabs Smoking Backpack As It Exploded In Busy Airport

A backpack emitting smoke caused panic and flight delays at Orlando International Airport. The incident caused pandemonium and delayed flights.

A Transportation Security Administration agent was hailed a hero that day when he acted immediately on the incident. He saw that the passengers are panicking at the checkpoint area. He examined the situation and saw that a backpack left on the ground started smoking.

An unattended backpack started smoking and the passengers panicked

Passengers panicked that a bomb passed the security and is inside the airport. TSA agent Ricardo Perez, a 20-year veteran of the US Army, immediately ran over to the backpack. He cleared the area and transported the backpack between a column and a concrete planter. He believed that in the event that the bag explodes, the concretes will cushion the impact.

TSA agent Ricardo Perez was hailed as hero when he acted amidst scared passengers.

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At first, they thought that the bag contained an improvised bomb. However, upon further investigation, it was found out that lithium battery exploded inside the owner’s backpack.

TSA Federal Security Director Jerry Henderson praised Perez’s immediate action and said;

“Our TSA Team’s performance was outstanding. I’m very proud of our team and how they responded to both the incident and the recovery process of rescreening passengers. Our people responded as they are trained to do — and to lead passengers to safety. I am especially proud of our officer, who unselfishly rushed to a potentially deadly situation in order to protect lives.”

Passengers panicked because of the backpack and flights were delayed.

Fortunately, no one was hurt or injured in the incident. However, operations were disrupted and more than 100 flights were held off. No one has come forward to take ownership of the backpack. Orlando’s airport is investigating the incident.