Florida Airport Evacuated After Worker Stumbles Across Massive Live Missile Stored In Cargo Container
An airport in Florida, USA, has been evacuated after a worker stumbled across a massive live missile stashed in a cargo container.
Bomb-disposal experts were rushed to the hospital.
The bomb was seen by a contractor as he unwittingly opened up the container.
Staff and heads of the airport have no idea how the missile ended up in a cargo container and on their premises.
Bomb experts from the US Air Force scrambled to Lakeland Linder International Airport in Florida.
Thousands of passengers were evacuated.
The missile that was found at the airport was an S-530 air-to-air missile, which had explosives on it.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, the whole southeast side of the Lakeland Linder International Airport was evacuated.
It stayed empty for around 4 hours.
The container arrived with pieces of a plane from a company named Dranken International.
Eugene Conrad, the director of the Lakeland Linder International Airport, said:
I’ve been here for 10 years and Draken has been here since 2011, but this is a first.
The missile is currently awaiting proper disposal after military experts disarmed it at the airport.
Air Force 1st Lt. Brandon Hanner, a spokesman for the 6th Air Refueling Wing, said that the missile was live but was unarmed.
Draken International released a statement about the incident, where they said:
Draken International, in the process of evaluating arriving shipments discovered something questionable and potentially explosive. Adhering to the explosive safety rule of exposing the minimum amount of people for the minimum amount of time to a potential explosive hazard the decision was made to evacuate the facility and its surrounding neighbors and contact the appropriate authorities. Draken takes its roll in the community seriously and always wants to ensure it performs safe and reliable operations.
The Lakeland Fire Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the EOD team from MacDill worked together to disarm and remove the bomb.
No one was injured or harmed in the incident.