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Mercury spill forces Puerto Rico flight delays
by Daily Nation
Posted: Aug 26, 2009 11:25 UTC
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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A small amount of mercury spilled inside Puerto Rico's main airport yesterday and authorities closed three terminals as a precaution, delaying about a dozen flights.
The terminals were closed and the air-conditioning system was shut off out of concern for dangerous fumes, said Alvaro Pilar, director of the United States Caribbean territory's port authority.
The passenger who packed the mercury in his suitcase said it was for his brother, a dentist in the Dominican Republic, regional police chief Jose Caldero said. The 52-year-old Dominican man, identified by police as Pedro Rafael de Pena de La Cruz, was being held for questioning but had not been charged.
The suitcase had been checked and was going through a security inspection when an explosive detection machine sounded an alarm, said Greg Soule, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).
He said a TSA employee opened the bag, noticed a suspicious liquid and alerted fire and rescue authorities, who evacuated the terminal.
The Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan was operating through one terminal that remained open, according to Pilar. He said about a dozen flights were affected. (AP)
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