The Long Beach Airport in the Los Angeles area was evacuated Thursday after a suspicious luggage was discovered, police said.

 

The discovery of the suspicious item in a piece of luggage prompted the evacuation of the airport, but the item turned out to be a hand-held game, police said.

 

A baggage screener notified authorities about 9:20 AM local time, and the decision was made to evacuate all passengers from the terminal, said Nancy Pratt of the Long Beach Police Department.

 

The FBI and the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department were responding, FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.

 

A bomb squad rushed to the scene, and a robot was sent into the airport terminal to examine the item. A Transportation Security Administration spokeswoman told Fox News.

 

Inbound flights were permitted to land, but were held on the tarmac, while outbound flights were delayed.

 

Airport spokeswoman Sharon Diggs-Jackson told a local radio, KFWB, that the investigation began wrapping up at about 10:45 a.m., and passengers were expected to be allowed back in the terminal by late morning.

 

"Once we get the all-clear we'll start letting passengers back into the terminal," she said, adding that crowds were not as heavy at the airport because of the timing of the evacuation.

 

"This is a quieter time for us because our morning rush had been completed," she said.

 

Hundreds of people were milling about the parking lot of the airport as officials investigated.

 

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2007)