Feb. 3 (UPI) — An off-duty Transportation Security Administration officer, in an apparent suicide, fell to his death Saturday inside the Orlando International Airport, disrupting flights.
Mass confusion caused travelers to go past security checkpoints unscreened, and delay or cancel some incoming and outgoing flights from Terminal A.
The man was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.
“Preliminary information suggests an apparent suicide,” Orlando police tweeted and later confirmed he was a TSA employee.
The TSA said that several passengers went through without screening. All passengers at gates 70 to 129 had to be re-screened, the airport said.
Trista Eaden said she was waiting in line for screening when she heard a loud bang.
“Then I saw the TSA agents standing up, and all of a sudden they just told us to run, to just go through the screening,” she told Spectrum News 13.
WFTV-TV video showed long lines at the checkpoint early Saturday afternoon.
Around 3 p.m., the wait at those checkpoints had been reduced to less than 15 minutes, the airport tweeted.
But numerous flights were canceled.
“As several flights have been cancelled, passengers are advised to contact their airline for flight status, esp Southwest passengers,” the airport tweeted. “Residual delays possible as airline partners work toward normal ops. Thanks again for your patience.
As of 7:30 p.m., 119 flights from the airport were delayed — 22 percent — and 48 were canceled, 9 percent, according to the flight-tracking site FlightAware.com. Also, incoming flights were affected — 84 delayed, 15 percent, and 48 were canceled, 8 percent.
