FORT WAYNE, Ind. – A liquid used to make perfume spilled from an unclaimed bag Wednesday inside the Fort Wayne International Airport (search), causing at least one worker to report feeling ill and prompting authorities to halt passenger service for hours.
Tests determined that the liquid was likely concentrated rose water, a mixture containing oil from rose petals, FBI agent Dan Nielsen said.
The terminal reopened Wednesday afternoon after having been closed nearly 10 hours. At least 40 flights were delayed.
Six people — four airport workers and two emergency responders — were decontaminated after the liquid was first noticed leaking from an unclaimed bag about an hour after the 1:50 a.m. arrival of an American Eagle (search) flight from Chicago, airport officials said.
American Airlines (search) spokeswoman Lisa Bailey said the workers noticed an odd odor after taking the bag to a secure area. They opened the bag and found a broken bottle.
"When the agent came in contact with the substance, the agent became violently ill, began vomiting," Bailey said.
The six people were treated at a hospital and released, and tests found no air contamination in the airport terminal, said Tory Richardson, the airport's executive director.
Bailey said the bag's owner was traveling to Fort Wayne from London, and was scheduled to change to the American Eagle plane in Chicago.
But weather problems delayed the late Tuesday flight from Chicago by nearly five hours, and the traveler was rebooked to a Wednesday flight instead. Meanwhile, his bag went on ahead of him on the Tuesday flight, Bailey said.
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