Russian Airport Authorities Immediately Halt Conveyor Belt
Woman Taken to Airport Medical Center... No Serious Injuries Found
At Vladikavkaz Airport in Russia, a woman mistakenly entered the conveyor belt used for checking in luggage, thinking it was a passenger walkway.
On the 13th, foreign media including the British Daily Star reported that earlier this month at Vladikavkaz Airport, an accident occurred where a woman entered the conveyor belt used for loading luggage. The incident happened when a woman, who had completed check-in to board an S7 Airlines flight to Moscow Domodedovo Airport, stepped onto the conveyor belt next to the counter.
At Vladikavkaz Airport in Russia, a woman mistook the conveyor belt for checking in luggage as a passenger walkway and entered inside the belt. X (X)
Security camera footage at the time showed a woman wearing a yellow fur coat, a long black skirt, and a pink hat walking onto the conveyor belt leading to the cargo hold. Counter staff were attending to other passengers and did not witness this scene. The woman pushed aside a black plastic curtain hiding the security screening device, hit her head on the ceiling, and slipped.
Staff who heard the woman fall turned around late, but she had already been pulled behind the curtain into the restricted area. Local media reported, "The airport baggage handlers were surprised when a woman arrived instead of a suitcase," and "They helped the passenger find the correct path."
At that time, the security camera footage showed a woman wearing a yellow fur coat, a long black skirt, and a pink hat walking up onto the conveyor belt leading to the cargo compartment. X (Ex)
The airport immediately stopped the conveyor belt operation, and luggage staff quickly initiated a rescue. The woman was taken to the airport medical center, but no serious injuries were found. It is known that the woman mistook the luggage conveyor belt for a moving walkway connected to the boarding gate. Netizens who saw the incident commented, "Glad she wasn’t seriously hurt," "It’s easy to mistake it for a moving walkway," and "No matter how busy they were, isn’t airport security way too lax?"
Previously, around November last year, a major aviation security incident occurred at Incheon Airport, a national security 'top-level' facility, when a woman in her 40s illegally entered the security zone using the automatic luggage check-in service 'Self Bag Drop' conveyor belt. The woman went down to the underground security zone and sat near the conveyor belt until she was caught by special security guards from Incheon International Airport Corporation and was immediately handed over to the police. The police decided it was difficult to investigate immediately as the woman was incoherent and exhibiting abnormal behavior, and she was admitted to a psychiatric hospital.
Regarding the incident, a police official said, "(The woman) went down to the underground floor via the conveyor belt used by passengers who self-check-in to drop off their luggage," and "It was a somewhat baffling incident as it was the first of its kind." He added, "Since there were no similar cases, we considered applying the Airport Facilities Act and Aviation Security Act, but there were no relevant penalty provisions," and "We are investigating under the criminal law charge of trespassing on a building."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
