Plane cleared after bomb scare at Sea-Tac

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By KOMO Staff & News Services

Summary

A cell phone that appeared to have been tampered with caused the evacuation of an Alaska Airlines flight on Thursday, but officials said it was not a threat.

Story Published: Oct 4, 2007 at 11:55 AM PDT

Story Updated: Apr 1, 2010 at 3:24 PM PDT

Plane cleared after bomb scare at Sea-Tac
SEATAC, Wash. -- Police have cleared a plane that was isolated at Sea-Tac Airport because of what officials called "unclaimed object" on board.

Airport spokeswoman Terri-Ann Betancourt said the suspicious object was found not to be a threat but appeared to be a cell phone that was tampered with.

Jorge Lopez, a passenger, who first spotted the object.

"I was sleeping and there were these two girls right by me," he said. "I stepped on it (the cell phone) and I asked her (one of the girls) if it was hers. She said no and I picked it up," he said.

Lopez then alerted flight attendants. The plane was evacuated and a bomb squad boarded the plane to examine the suspicious object.

Airport spokesman Perry Cooper said even though the reason behind the alarm and hours of delay turned out to be a cell phone, all precautions that were taken were necessary.

"This is the type of security world that we live in. We'd rather have a delay of a few passengers at this point and make sure that we're correct," he said.

Alaska Airlines Airline spokeswoman Caroline Boren said flight 383 from San Jose landed about 11:40 a.m. and was checked out by Port of Seattle police and the FBI.

The Boeing 737 was moved off the runway after it landed and the passengers were evacuated.