Los Angeles International Airport was shut down early Saturday because of a possible security breach and a separate incident at an international terminal security screening station, an airport spokesman said.

No information was immediately available on the incident at Tom Bradley International Terminal ), airport spokesman Harold Johnson said.

Officials also did not explain the possible security breach that shut down terminals 6, 7 and 8. The terminals are connected.

Flights were not being allowed to depart, but inbound flights were being allowed to land, said Paul Turk, spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration (search). Passengers were not taken off the planes.

Traffic was being diverted from the airport.

ITV is reporting an explosion. Will update with links, confirmation.

UPDATE:

No explosion, but FOX tv is reporting a "postiive hit on an explosive detection."

UPDATE: Now FOX.com is reporting a small explosion at LAX has injured seven.

UPDATE:

Fox now has this:

An exploding flashlight that injured seven people prompted a shutdown at Los Angeles International Airport (search), an airport worker told FOX News.

Sharon Mayes, parking supervisor at LAX, said two separate security breaches caused airport officials to close off terminals 6,7 and 8, which are connected, and ground all flights. Flights have been allowed to land, but passengers have not been permitted to exit planes.

Mayes also said the LAPD bomb squad was en route to the airport.

It was not immediately possible to verify the report of the explosion. One of the incidents occurred at an international terminal security screening station, an airport spokesman said.

UPDATE:

Reports of injuries cannot be confirmed. CNN has this:

In one incident, airport police were responding to reports of a "suspicious person."

The other involved a flashlight with corroded batteries that exploded in Tom Bradley International Terminal.

Seven people were hurt by that explosion.

Department of Homeland Security had a different account.

The agency said that an explosive detection system machine got a positive reading from a corroded battery in a flashlight.

DHS reported that there was no explosion and that there were no injuries that they were aware of.

UPDATE:

Some flights are now taking off.

So far, the concensus is there was an explosion, albeit a small one caused by corroded batteries in a flashlight. However, there was also a separate incident, with the "suspicious person" that prompted the shut down.

Posted by Michele at September 4, 2004 12:47 PM | TrackBack