CALGARY (CP) -- A young boy's penknife sparked the evacuation of more than 2,000 passengers and delayed 20 flights at the Calgary International Airport on Tuesday.
The item is on a list forbidden in carry-on luggage in several nations in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
''If you pack a prohibited item, this is what can happen _ you can inconvenience 2,000 passengers,'' said Anna-Karina Tabunar, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority.
''Whenever anything appears to be a threat, we have to take it very seriously.''
At about 11:45 a.m., a Canadian Air Transport Security Authority screener noticed something suspicious while examining a backpack through an X-ray scanner.
The boy, who was traveling with his mother, picked up the suspicious bag from the conveyor belt before the screener could stop him to examine it further, Tabunar said.
Without a clear idea who was carrying the contraband, officials decided to remove all passengers from one of the airport's four departure concourses and make them go through security again.
Officials also removed passengers from two flights that had already boarded.
Twenty Air Canada and Air Canada Jazz flights were delayed for more than an hour.
Leah Moore was in the middle of a long-haul trip to Edmonton from Halifax when her Calgary stopover turned into a two-hour delay. ''We were sitting on the tarmac for about 45 minutes and then they told us to deplane.''
Copyright 2005 Associated Press
