Tuesday October 9, 2001

PHOENIX - A man breached security last night at a concourse in Phoenix's Sky Harbor International Airport, officials said.

Airport spokeswoman Suzanne Luber said the man had been asked to wait at a security checkpoint to be checked by a metal detector wand but refused and ran off into a crowd. Authorities subsequently were unable to locate him.

The concourse was evacuated as a precaution and police swept it to check whether anything had been placed there. By shortly before 8 p.m., the concourse had been reopened and people again were making their way through checkpoints.

About 2,000 passengers on planes nearing takeoff were unloaded and were sent through checkpoints a second time.

America West Airlines suspended operations temporarily but resumed once the concourse was reopened. The airline canceled four flights to Tucson and Dallas but said they were called off because of lack of passengers and not because of the security breach.

Meanwhile, thousands of people jammed the terminal in which the security breach occurred, and for a time the scene was described as wall to wall people.

The Phoenix Fire Department handed out ice and water to the waiting passengers. Resumption of movement through checkpoints was slow, producing further delays.