NJ Student Causes Airport Security Scare

A teen-ager's comment caused a security scare at an airport, delaying the return of a group of New Jersey high school students from their class trip to Walt Disney World.

Students from Highland and Eastern Regional high schools were originally expected to return to Philadelphia International Airport from Orlando, Fla., on Saturday night.

According to Black Horse Pike Regional School District Superintendent Gerald Killeen, an 18-year-old Eastern student asked a security guard at Orlando International Airport: "What do you think, I have a bomb?"

The comment led to the evacuation of a plane and a nearly daylong delay in the students' flight home.

The officers interrogated the Eastern student and guards searched the plane and all the students' luggage. The group finally left Orlando about noon Sunday.

The student was not charged, but the FBI and other federal authorities were investigating.

Eastern Regional spokesman Tom Crehan was unsure whether the student who made the comment returned to New Jersey with the rest of his class. He said the school has not decided what disciplinary action to take.

Author: 6 ABC-AP