A suspicious item onboard an aircraft that led to a dramatic emergency landing in New York on Saturday (local time) has been identified as a vintage camera.
The pilot of American Flight 4817 made an emergency landing at La Guardia Airport after reporting "a suspicious person has an item that looks like an explosive device."
At the time, many passengers and crew feared the worst.
Passenger Fawad Khuja told The New York Times the plane was full of people yelling and screaming about the man with "a suspicious device".
The man in question was pushed to the ground and arrested on the tarmac after the plane landed.
However, investigations into the incident revealed he was a vintage camera enthusiast and was watching videos on YouTube about old cameras. A fellow passenger mistook the cameras in the video for explosives.
When man then pulled out a vintage camera of his own the fearful passenger reported him to cabin crew.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said the incident "was an example of a 'See Something, Say Something' situation": An ongoing campaign in the US encouraging people to speak up when they notice anything remotely suspicious.
When searched, the man was found to have numerous vintage cameras and a skateboard.
"The Joint Terrorism Task Force, the FBI and the Port Authority Police Department determined that there was no criminality on the part of the passenger and he was released," the Task Force told New York Daily News.
