Southend Airport bomb scare causes delays and road closures

Police called in bomb squad to deal with 'suspicious bag'

Southend Airport terminal building (Wikipedia)

Southend Airport was put on alert and bomb experts called in after a “suspicious bag” was discovered on a road close the entrance.

Police were called at 10.40am after staff found the “unidentified” bag on a roundabout near to the airport approach road.

They set up cordons around the area and closed off roads around the entrance to the airport, a spokesman for Essex Police confirmed.

According to the BBC, four inbound and outbound flights were delayed for up to 50 minutes while passengers coming through arrivals were told not to leave the terminal.

The Ministry Of Defence Ordinance Disposal Team were called shortly before 1pm but the bag turned out to be “harmless” and contained nothing more than “rubbish and old clothes”, police said.

Cordons were lifted shortly afterwards with roads around the area remaining congested for some time.