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Daytona Beach airport evacuated over bottle of lotion

Passengers left standing on sidewalk outside airport

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Daytona Beach International Airport was evacuated Tuesday morning, leaving about 200 passengers standing on the sidewalk outside.

The emergency evacuation was issued at 6:17 a.m., but the all-clear was given about 90 minutes later.

The airport tweeted that a suspicious bag, which TSA officials said looked like a detonator, was flagged while going through security, prompting the evacuation.

The bomb squad was called, and Volusia County sheriff’s officials later tweeted that the package turned out to be a bottle of lotion.

“After examining the luggage, it was determined that it was not a bomb, in fact, it was a bottle of lotion,” Chitwood said.

Chitwood said the TSA did its job properly.

“When you look at what’s going on around the world -- last year was the naked guy (at the Daytona Beach airport), last time we had a guy with a gun -- you have to be alert at all times because terrorists want to cause panic and mass casualties,” Chitwood said. “TSA and deputies at the airport were on top of it and the system worked the way it was supposed to, and fortunately it wasn’t a bomb.”

No passengers were aboard planes when the evacuation was issued.

Some flights were delayed due to the incident.

Andrea Lake was at the airport when the evacuation happened.

"Everybody was super professional, kind, calm, it was good," Lake Said.

Lake had to cancel her flight to Mexico but said she thinks officials made the right call.

“I think everybody was happy," Lake said. “They did their job and everyone is going home safe.”

Watch News 6 and stay with ClickOrlando.com for updates.


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