Bad idea: picking up an old, unexploded bomb.
Worse idea: deciding to keep an old, unexploded bomb as a souvenir.
The absolute worst idea: transporting an old, unexploded bomb to the airport in your luggage and attempting to bring it on a plane.
A chaotic scene unfolded at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on Thursday after an American family attempted to pass through security with unexploded ordnance in their suitcase.
According to the Israel Airports Authority, the tourists approached airport security and asked about the shell as they deposited their luggage, sparking a panicked effort to evacuate the departure hall.
Video shared on social media captured the frantic scene, with some passengers fleeing the area while others sought shelter wherever they could find it.
At least one man was injured while fleeing and later taken to a hospital. The Times of Israel reports the 32-year-old climbed onto the luggage conveyor belt, ran on top of it and fell down.
The family found the bomb during a visit to the Golan Heights, a contested strip of land Israel captured from Syria in a war in 1967, annexed in 1981, and, under international law and United Nations Security Council resolutions, has illegally occupied ever since.
The area remains littered with landmines, barbed wire and unexploded bombs ― minus at least one.
The Israel Airports Authority told CNN the family was allowed to board their flight after an interrogation and that the incident is “currently under operational investigation.”
The tourists were not allowed to bring the ordnance home with them.
