Two Bomb Threats In Dublin

Airport Thrown Into Chaos By Cruel Hoaxes

Dublin airport was thrown into chaos last week after two separate bomb hoaxes caused the airport to be closed down.

On Tuesday afternoon 3,000 passengers and staff were evacuated from the terminal building when a man entered the main arrivals hall and claimed he was carrying a bomb.

The man raised a bag over his head, spoke in Arabic and shouted that the bag contained a bomb which was set to go off shortly.

The threat caused panic and hundreds of passengers fled the building.

Two airport security guards who were standing close to the man immediately apprehended him and pulled the bag to the floor.

The airports emergency plan was activated and within then minutes of the alert being raised the building had been evacuated.

Army bomb disposal experts examined the bag and declared it to be a hoax.

However the evacuation left hundreds of cars stranded on the roads leading to Dublin airport, resulting in a huge backlog of customers once the airport reopened just before 4pm.

On Wednesday 48 year-old Dublin man, John McHugh, appeared in Dublin District Court accused of causing the hoax.

Sinead Coffey, a teacher who was waiting to meet 30 Italian students at the airport, described the experience as 'the most frightening of my life'.

"He was shouting something like 'abu ake'," said Ms. Coffey.

"After about 30 seconds, he said, 'I have a bomb. Everyone get out." Kevin Mulligan, from Dublin, said the airport was in 'complete pandemonium'.

"He was shouting that he was from Al-Qaeda," said Mr. Mulligan.

"I just ran like everybody else...the airport cleared within a minute.

"Everybody just ran.

"You do think to yourself is this guy for real but when he's saying he has a bomb you have to take him seriously".

On Friday a separate bomb hoax caused Dublin airport to be closed for a time.

A caller claiming to represent an Islamic group told airport staff that a device had been left in the arrivals hall.

However when bomb experts examined a hold all it contained a version of the Koran, but no explosives.

Earlier this year Dublin airport was hit by a security alert when another hoax caller claimed that a bomb had been left in the building.

The Government and Gardai praised airport staff for their handling of the situation and the swift response in getting all passengers evacuated from the building.

The government also reassured passengers that the strictest security precautions were in place at the airport.

The two bomb alerts capped a weekend of travel disruption at Dublin airport.

On Thursday SIPTU workers staged a 90-minute walkout in protest at Aer Lingus management.

The 90-minute action caused delays for thousands of passengers and directly affected dozens of Aer Lingus flights in Dublin, Cork and Shannon airport.

Aer Lingus management will meet with SIPTU representatives this week in a bid to avert further disruption during the busiest time of year.