Ibiza Airport Bomb A Hoax

The evacuation of the airport and controlled explosion of a suspicious package on Saturday have turned out to be a false alarm.

An anonymous caller had made three phone calls, the first around midday, to Gara -- a Basque newspaper -- the DYA (an emergency service) and one of Ibiza´s newspapers. Subsequently security forces searched the airport and discovered a suspicious package, which had gone unmarked by sniffer dogs.

This later turned out to be an empty shoebox in a wastepaper bin in the car park, which was blown up in a controlled explosion. A rucksack was also investigated but found to contain personal possessions.

At the moment there is no definite link to Basque separatist/terror group ETA, but bomb or no bomb, the chaos can be much the same.

The airport was cleared prior to the explosion and The Spanish Airports Authority, AENA says air traffic was halted for some three and a half hours, affecting some 13,000 passengers.

Our reporter on the island, Zoe Glass, says “Flights were landing as normal from late afternoon (judging by the quantity of air traffic going over my house in Figueretes) and when I went down to pick someone up at 1am it was operating absolutely as normal.

“In fact, there wasn't a hint of stress or any sign that anything had happened. Normal security, everyone going about their business. The Ibicencos could certainly teach the Brits a few things about keeping a stiff upper lip...”