South Carolina's Charleston International Airport was evacuated for about two hours after screeners found a suspicious package that turned out to be a laptop computer, the airport's top official says.
The package was spotted shortly after 5am local time on Friday by US Transportation Security Administration screeners as it went through an X-ray unit, airport executive director Paul Campbell said.
It looked "suspicious enough" that the local bomb squad was called in, he added.
"We compared it with other laptops and found that it didn't look exactly right. So consequently we erred on the side of caution," Campbell said in an airport news conference, a video of which was posted on the airport's Twitter page.
Although the bomb squad determined the laptop posed no threat, the device and a "person involved" were taken to Charleston police headquarters where the investigation continued, Campbell said.
The airport reopened shortly after 7am, with passengers lining up at security checkpoints, ticket counters and gates.
"We apologise for the delay, but we're not going to sacrifice safety for any reason, any reason at all," Campbell said.
