Angry Israeli causes bomb scare at NJ Airport
New York Post reports that angry Israeli tourist caused panic at Newark Airport after learning there were no seats on his connecting flight. He then said he had bomb in his bag and was arrested
A livid Israeli tourist who wanted an airline to remove his bag from a flight said he would claim to have a bomb in the bag in order to get the bag removed. The New York Post reported Monday that 44-year-old Eran Hess of Tel Aviv became upset after learning that even though his family’s bags had been put on the flight to Miami, there were no seats for them.
The man’s resulting tantrum caused a security panic that grounded flights and had security officials scrambling to find Hess and his family before they got on another flight.
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According to the report, the incident began at 9 am local time. The Hess family – husband, wife and two children – was coming off of a flight from Tel Aviv, set to continue onto Florida. But upon arriving at the airport check-in, they were informed that more tickets had been sold than there were seats, and that their bags had inadvertently been loaded onto the plane, and could not be taken off.
Newark Airport, Archives (Photo: Reuters)
After he mentioned a “bomb,” Hess walked off with his family, and disappeared into the crowd. More than 10 police officers began a search for the Hess entourage. In the end, they were found and Hess was arrested while trying to get his family onto another American Airlines flight to Florida.
The family's original scheduled flight to Miami was delayed by three hours. A total of 167 passengers and six crew members were brought back to the terminal, so the plane could be searched for explosives.
Hess was charged with creating a public panic.
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