The Tribune

By DANA SMITH

dsmith@tribunemedia.net

THE US terminal at Nassau's Lynden Pindling International Airport was shut down for an hour yesterday afternoon while officials investigated what they called an airport "security breach".

The breach occurred around 1pm when arriving passengers somehow wound up in the United States departure lounge rather than Bahamas customs and immigrations.

According to Shonalee Johnson, Nassau Airport Development Company (NAD) communications manager, the passengers accidentally went through a boarding door.

She said an airline employee managed to find the passengers and redirect them to the passageway leading to customs and immigration, but an investigation followed.

"Airport officials immediately deployed personnel to the scene to investigate the matter," Ms Johnson said. "During that time, all US-bound flights were placed on hold resulting in departure delays. Passengers were, however, still being checked in and processed as normal."

Sources reported that US Customs and Border Protection, as well as NAD, carried out investigations into the apparent mishap.

Ms Johnson said it was shortly after 2pm that US-bound flights resumed their departure schedules from the airport.