Flights cancelled in Japan after scissors go missing
Thirty-six flights were cancelled and 201 delayed at a Japanese airport on the weekend after a pair of scissors went missing in a store near the boarding gates.
Security checks at Hokkaido’s New Chitose Airport domestic terminal were suspended for about two hours on Saturday morning, leaving hundreds of travellers temporarily stranded.
There were huge bottlenecks and queues as passengers in the departure lounge were forced to retake security checks.
Authorities tried to locate the missing scissors, which were found at the same store the following day.
Although the scissors weren’t located on Saturday, the day they went missing, security checks and flights eventually resumed that day.
Hokkaido Airport, the operator of New Chitose airport, announced on Monday that the scissors had been found by a worker at the store on Sunday.
Authorities explained that they held off on making the announcement until they had confirmed that the scissors were the same as the ones that were lost.
Many travellers affected by the cancellations and delays were flying home after Japan’s annual Bon holiday.
“I don’t think we have any choice (but to wait),” one traveller told local media at the time. “But I do hope they are bit more careful about it.”
Another traveller said there were “So many things to worry about these days… it never ends. And I don’t feel safe until I get home.”
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has asked Hokkaido Airports to investigate the cause and prevent it from happening again. —BBC
