Part of Munich airport was closed Wednesday as officials searched in vain for a man who left a security checkpoint with a bag containing a laptop after it had triggered an alert for possible explosives. The incident appeared to have been a false alarm triggered by a passenger in a hurry to catch his plane, and who was unaware of what had happened. Part of the airport's Terminal 2 was closed following the incident at 3:30 P.M. (1430 GMT, 9:30 a.m. EST) and hundreds of people were evacuated. The area reopened three hours later. Police had not been able to find or identify the man by mid-evening, but said they were still working on it. An airport security instrument alerted officials to possible explosives as the bag with the man's laptop was being scanned, police said. The man quickly left the scene, carrying the computer into the terminal, they said. Officials had wanted to check the bag again. The impression of officials was that “the passenger likely was in a bit of a hurry, grabbed his luggage and headed off,” federal police spokesman Albert Poerschke said.
