Shoes blown up after passenger
tries to hotfoot it onto plane
ABC ONLINE 11/4/2002
An unsuspecting Chinese passenger had his electrically-warmed shoes blown up by the bomb
squad today, after they triggered an evacuation of San Francisco's main airport.
The alert began when security screeners spotted a pair of self-heating shoes, which had
wires emerging from them, in the carry-on luggage of the passenger.
Airport spokesman Ron Wilson describes the footwear as containing batteries, wires and a
heating device.
"When the bag went through the X-ray, it came up with an image that was extremely
suspicious," he said.
The man was stopped immediately and police were called to the scene as airport officials
evacuated passengers from the terminal.
After the shoes were declared safe, bomb squad officers took them to a remote area of the
airport and blew them up to ensure that would not cause further confusion.
"His shoes are in a million pieces," Mr Wilson said.
"The screeners did everything correctly this time. Something like that should be
declared, especially if there are wires."
END OF REPORT
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