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Shelley Osterloh Reporting Terminal one at the Salt Lake International Airport is evacuated because of a suspicious bag. A dangerous explosive made into a common item closed down the terminal for more than an hour.
At about 11:30 this morning, the x-ray machines that screen checked luggage picked up a suspicious item inside a bag.
Within minutes, thousands of people were evacuated from the ticket area of terminal one while bomb technicians went in.
At about 12:30, law officers brought out a large white container with the suspicious bag inside, and the airport reopened.
So what set off all the security? It was a belt buckle made out of half of a hand grenade. It was not dangerous, but under the x-ray it looked like it even had a pin in it.
The real problems came for passengers affected by the delay. That includes some Utah students among a group of 250 on their way to competition in Kansas.
Mark Kranendonk: "This is skills USA, our national conference in Kansas City. It's our competition, it's what we work for all school year."
Others missed flights also.
"We are sending off about 350 people today. So now we are going to miss connecting flights and they are going to go ahead and send the flights. They are not holding the flight. They are sending the flight, but the baggage will end up staying here and people will be here. So, kind of inconvenient. What a mess. Yes, a big mess."
Angie and Neal Guyman/ Idaho Falls: "We got to watch the bomb squad car move their little robot. Then we came in here to find out our flight was canceled and so they had to put us on a new one. We had to stay overnight somewhere else, and it's our honeymoon, too."
Airline and airport crews really scrambled to get that huge crowd of people through quickly.
Airport security tracked down the man who owns the buckle. He said it was a military artifact from his career. No charges will be filed.
(The Associated Press Contributed to this story)
