At least 31 people were killed this morning in explosions at the check-in zone of Brussels Airport and in the Belgian capital’s subway, NBC News reports.
Advertisement
In the United States, the country’s largest cities were placed on high alert and the National Guard was called in to increase security at New York City’s two airports. A Jet Airways flight from Delhi to Chennai was searched at IGI Airport on Tuesday evening after an anonymous caller reported that a bomb had been placed in the plane.
“A thorough search was conducted in the plane” at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, deputy commissioner of police Dinesh Kumar Gupta said, adding that all the passengers had been evacuated and taken to a safe place.
After a chaotic Tuesday in which tens of thousands of Israelis were stuck in Europe because of cancelled and delayed flights, the Airports Authority hopes to be able to restore a semblance of normal service between Ben Gurion Airport and the Continent on Wednesday.
But there has been less attention focused on how airports themselves are secured, before passengers check in for flights, despite a number of attacks. In 2014, militants with Tehrik-i-Taliban, also known as the Pakistani Taliban, attacked the Jinnah International Airport with suicide vests, grenades and automatic weapons. But the airport emphasized it was doing so even though there has been nor specific threats against the airport.
In Los Angeles, Airport Police spokeswoman Alicia Hernandez tells the Los Angeles Times that the department has made its officers more visible through the airport. It has multiple levels of protection, including screening before people enter the terminal. Moscow also checks people at terminal entrances.
Travelers will see an increase in security at stations, on trains, and along the tracks.
Advertisement
Meanwhile, the U.S. Transportation Security Administration announced it is deploying additional security to major U.S. airports and at various rail and transit stations, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson said in a prepared statement. “There’s no sense of urgency and not enough money devoted to the problem”.
