Hundreds of passengers have been turned back from the customs zone at Melbourne airport’s international departures terminal. Picture: John Lethlean Source: TheAustralian
MELBOURNE Airport’s international departures terminal was thrown into chaos this morning after hundreds of passengers had to be rescreened due to a “minor security breach”.
Airport spokeswoman Anna Gillett said the incident had occurred around 9:00am, causing around 1700 passengers to have to be reprocessed and several thousand others to be delayed.
She said minor flight delays were likely to continue for some time as a result, with passengers being prioritised according to flight departure time.
“It was a very minor breach and as a precaution only we removed everyone from the area for rescreening,” Ms Gillett said.
Passenger Tony Muratore told The Australian he had been scanned for security and was awaiting customs clearance when he was told to leave the secure area with hundreds of others.
“It’s a very unclear situation, he said. “It’s absolutely chaos here.”
Others aired their frustration on social media.
Shortly before 10:30am, @AlexHagan tweeted that the queue extended “from T2 to T3, back through T2, T1, and outside”.
@crowediane tweeted: “#melbourne airport – this is crazy why did you let 1000s turn up for flights with no warning of chaos!”
@HillAndy tweeted: “#melbourne airport some info on whether it is worth waiting in line for flights would be appreciated as etd’s not changed!”
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