Rome’s Fiumicino Airport in Italy saw high drama yesterday afternoon after police blew up a suspicious bag.
However, fear quickly turned to farce when it became clear that rather than containing a bomb, the luggage held lots of coconuts.
An eyewitness photographed the incident which saw the Italian police simply abandon the exploded bag and the mess they had caused in the busy concourse.
Ned Donovan, a freelance journalist, shared his experience of the event on Twitter.
”Amazing, the Italian police have blown up a bag full of coconuts and have now reopened Rome airport,” he tweeted.
Ned posted a photo of the aftermath. The bag’s contents are strewn all over the floor and include numerous coconuts.
Another image showed police standing over the ruined bag holding the “suspect coconuts,” taken just moments after it was blown up, according to Ned.
Ned told The Independent the episode lasted at least 15 minutes and resulted in the terminal being closed.
However, while police prevented anyone from going airside or entering the terminal, they also left the people already inside to “wander around,” said Ned.
He later tweeted: “There’s so much about this incident that I enjoyed and also felt so Italian.
“They blew up what they thought was a bomb in the middle of the airport while people were about 10 metres away, and then when it was destroyed the police just wandered off and left it to be cleaned up.”
Twitter users loved the entertaining thread of posts about the coconuts and took to the platform in droves to share puns.
“Is that a weapon of mass desiccation?” one man tweeted. Another posted: “I hope they catch the perpetrator. They should put a bounty on them.”
“Top notch policework. They blew the case wide open,” a third Twitter user wrote.
Another person speculated that the contents of coconuts pointed to the passenger responsible being Indian.
“Oh gawd. This bag/luggage must belong to an Indian. Only we carry coconuts and frying pans when we travel,” one woman tweeted.
Others saw the opportunity for the episode to be replicated on TV.”There’s a Monty Python skit in this story somewhere,” one Twitter user wrote.
Rome is not the only airport facing embarrassment, however. A viral video has captured the awkward moment a ceremonial water salute went terribly wrong at Dubai Airport.
During the salute, one jet of water lost control and completely drenched the plane as it sprayed water directly at the body of the aircraft rather than aiming in an elegant arc over it.
To make matters worse the way the water hit the plane triggered the deployment of the emergency slide.
