San Francisco airport terminal reopens after evacuation
January 30, 2002 Posted: 1:41 PM EST
SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- Passengers are being let back into a San Francisco International Airport terminal for rescreening after an apparent security breach Wednesday morning.
Possible explosives residue was found on a man's shoes as he passed through a security checkpoint, but the man "got lost in the crowd," said Mike McCarron, assistant airport director. The incident occurred around 6:50 a.m. PST, McCarron said.
Terminal 3, home to United Airlines flights, was shut down, and passengers were told to leave the area. About 30 gates, all belonging to United, were affected. The terminal reopened about three hours later, but flights have yet to resume.
Authorities are searching for a white male in his 40s. McCarron said he didn't know if the man fled from the area.
He said the man went through a random check, and security personnel detected "a possible type of residue they wanted to investigate further."
The residue could have been from explosives or could have been something like traces of nitroglycerin heart medication, he said.
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