CHICAGO, Aug 18 (AFP) - Airport authorities re-opened a regional US airport late Wednesday following a security scare that closed the facility for nine hours and forced the cancellation of up to a dozen flights, officials said.
The Fort Wayne International Airport in northeast Indiana resumed operations shortly before 2:00 pm (1900 GMT), according to its website.
Airport authorities could not immediately be reached for comment, but the Fort Wayne News Sentinel reported on its website that the suspicious substance that triggered the scare had been provisionally identified as glycerin -- an ingredient in perfume.
The liquid had apparently leaked from a piece of luggage, sickening a handful of airport personnel who were exposed to it, and prompting authorities to shutter the airport and call in the hazmat teams.
The owner of the bag was not on hand to reclaim the luggage when it arrived at the aiport on an American Eagle flight out of Chicago in the early hours of Wednesday morning, raising a red flag for authorities, FBI officials said.
The owner was subsequently detained in Chicago and was co-operating with authorities, according to Ross Rice, a spokesman with the Chicago bureau of the Federal Bureau of Intelligence.
Rice said the man had stayed overnight at a hotel in Chicago because his 7:40 pm flight was repeatedly delayed, finally departing at 1:00 am, but his luggage was on the flight because it had been checked earlier.
The passenger, whom Rice declined to identify because he has not been charged, was traveling to Fort Wayne from Beirut, according to local media reports.