Chaos strikes ANOTHER major Australian airport as ALL passengers are ordered to evacuate – as the reason for Melbourne mayhem is revealed
- Thousands of passengers delayed by security breach at Melbourne Airport
- Travellers ordered off Qantas flights and back into the terminal to be rescreened
- Thousands more evacuated from Adelaide Airport due to similar security breach
- Do you know more? Email kylie.stevens@mailonline.com
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Chaos has erupted at Adelaide Airport with all passengers who had passed through security ordered out of the terminal – just hours after the same thing happened in Melbourne.
Qantas passengers at Melbourne’s Tullamarine Airport were ordered off flights and evacuated from the terminal earlier on Tuesday morning. A man is believed to have entered the airport from the baggage area by accident – and then been lost by security.
Three hours later, thousands of travellers at Adelaide Airport were forced to leave the shopping and terminal precincts and go back through security once again due to ‘operational reasons’, passengers reported.
The breach is believed to be linked to the failure of a piece of security equipment, according to the airport.
‘An orderly evacuation of the terminal has been undertaken and re-screening of passengers has commenced,’ a statement read.
Security screening resumed shortly after 10am with passengers warned to expect flight delays and to check with their airlines.
Scenes from the airport show hundreds of travellers standing in long queues in what they described as ‘organised chaos.’
Travellers at Adelaide Airport were ordered to evacuate the terminal to be rescreened after a security breach. Pictured is the long queue waiting to be screened
Adelaide Airport (pictured) was plunged into chaos on Tuesday morning just hours after the same thing happened in Melbourne
‘Chaos at Adelaide airport this morning with security shut down and the terminal being emptied, going to be a lot of delayed flights out of Adelaide today,’ one man tweeted.
Another added: ‘Security just reopened and everyone cheered. Hope the security staff don’t have too hard a day with frustrated folk! Be nice travellers.’
One woman told ABC Radio Adelaide passengers were forced to wait outside for 30 minutes before being allowed to re-enter the terminal.
Other travellers commended airport staff on how the incident was handled.
‘Just back in after evacuation and have to say your whole airport team were great, super helpful and pleasant, 10/10 evacuation experience, nice work Adelaide,’ one man tweeted.
The delays at Adelaide Airport are believed to involve a faulty piece of security equipment
Passengers at Adelaide Airport (pictured) have been warned to expect flight delays
Earlier photos and footage from Melbourne showed thousands waiting to be rescreened with queues at the security gates snaking outside the terminal.
‘A passenger appears to have inadvertently passed from an unscreened area to a screened area of the airport in Melbourne,’ a statement from the airline read.
‘As a precaution all Qantas operations have been put on hold and passengers in the terminal are being re-screened which is causing delays to some services this morning.
‘Safety is our number one priority, but we know this disruption is causing some inconvenience for our passengers and we apologise for that. We are investigating how this incident occurred.’
Thousand of travellers at Melbourne Airport have been delayed by a major security breach. Pictured are the chaotic scenes in Melbourne 6am Tuesday morning
Tim Joyce had just boarded his Brisbane flight when the pilot ordered everyone off the plane ‘a minute’ from taking off.
‘The pilot pretty much told us straight away that there was somebody who slipped through the terminal,’ he said.
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‘They have evacuated every single person that has been through screening so that everybody can get rescreened,’ he told the Today show.
‘It seems quite serious, there are thousands of people waiting at 6am.’
He stressed communication from the airline had been great, despite the chaos.
‘Essentially they’ve communicated that people will be screened on a boarding basis from now on, so the next flight out will be screened first,’ Mr Joyce said.
‘I am glad they have evacuated the terminal to make sure everyone is safe, because it is definitely worth a few hours of waiting.’
Tim Joyce (pictured) is among thousands of Qantas passengers caught up in the delays
Sue Duke had just boarded a her flight to Brisbane when the pilot ordered everyone off the plane to be rescreened in the terminal (pictured, the long queue at the security gates)
The lengthy delays tested the patience of Qantas travellers (pictured) at Melbourne on Tuesday morning. It was the airline’s second security breach within a month
Sue Duke was also flying to Brisbane to catch a connecting flight to Norfolk Island.
‘We’re just hoping Qantas will hold that flight because there’s a big tour group travelling’ she told Sunrise.
Her 6am flight was delayed by an hour-and-a-half while at least seven other flights have also delayed.
Rowing Australia boss Ian Robson was also caught up in the airport mayhem while trying to fly to Canberra.
“A couple of announcements made clear in the last five minutes or so there was this inadvertent security breach, apparently by a small number of passengers ,which has then meant they had to evacuate everyone who had already been security cleared, including those on planes,” he told 3AW.
‘It’s going to be a long late morning I suggest.’
The security screening queue extended back to the international terminal (pictured, the long queue of Melbourne passengers waiting to be screened by security)
Some travellers were already on planes ready for take-off when they were ordered off to return to the terminal to be screened a second time (pictured, the lengthy queue for security screening)
Melbourne Airport says the screening of passengers in T1 had resumed by 7.30am.
‘Delays are expected this morning. Qantas staff are working hard to get everyone to their destinations,’ the airport said in a statement.
The Australian Federal Police is now investigating how the security breach occurred.
The incident comes just a month after passengers on an evening Qantas flight from Sydney to Melbourne were escorted off the plane by police after one passenger managed to bypass the security screening.
The error was not discovered until the flight was in the air.
A Qantas spokesman said at the time that a passenger boarded the flight after inadvertently passing from an unscreened to a screened part of the airport in Sydney.
The security breach in Melbourne (pictured on morning) is expected to spark widespread travel chaos and delays across Australia
Qantas has apologised for the chaos and inconvenience caused at Melbourne Airport
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