Two passengers and their bags were removed from a United Airlines flight before departure from Boston’s Logan airport on Tuesday, a source with direct knowledge of the action said, one day after two bombs exploded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
It was not known if the removal of the passengers was connected with the investigation of the bombings, which left three people dead and dozens injured. The identities of the two passengers were not disclosed.
“I can tell you that two passengers and their bags were removed from the flight,” said the source, who asked not to be identified.
United Airlines flight 636 from Logan International Airport was scheduled to depart at 6:04 a.m. EDT for Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, but was delayed about three hours, according to the United website.
According to United spokesman Christen David, the crew requested that passengers and their bags be screened again before departure.
The aircraft was swept and cleared for takeoff without the two passengers, the source said.
A second flight, US Airways 1716, which arrived from Philadelphia, was taxied to a far corner of the airport while a bag on board was examined, airport officials said. Passengers were transferred to the airport by bus while this inspection was carried out and the aircraft brought to the gate after the bag proved to be harmless.
In New York, bomb squad investigators were called in and the central terminal of La Guardia International Airport was evacuated on Tuesday after authorities discovered a suspicious package at around 10:30 a.m. EDT in the terminal, authorities said.
Ron Marsico, a spokesman for the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, which oversees external security at area airports, said what appeared at first to be a suspicious package was “part of a light fixture.”
Authorities around the country have been on alert since Monday, when two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.
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