Lynn Lau
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Sep 14/01) - A suspicious bag at the Inuvik airport led to an evacuation Tuesday, in the midst of heightened security across the continent due to terrorist activity in the United States.

As with other airports in the United States and Canada, all scheduled flights had been cancelled.

But at about 11:30 a.m., airport staff noticed an unclaimed carry-on bag sitting on the steps outside, said airport manager Rod Hunchak.

As well, there are unconfirmed reports of two military CF-18 fighter jets being scrambled from Inuvik for Whitehorse yesterday. National Defence headquarters in Ottawa refused to confirm or deny the reports.

The CF-18s from Forward Operating Location (FOL) Inuvik are believed to have been scrambled after two Korean Airline 747s -- a passenger jet and a cargo plane -- were escorted by U.S. and Canadian air force planes to land in Whitehorse. This in the wake of the closure of American airspace after four domestic airliners were hijacked and the World Trade Centre in New York City and Pentagon in Washington, D.C. were attacked in suicide missions.

The Colorado-based North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD) began its most recent deployment of fighter aircraft at FOLs in Alaska and northern Canada last week. The purpose was to monitor a Russian Air Force exercise in the Russian Arctic and north Pacific oceans, Lt.-Gen. Ken Pennie, deputy commander of NORAD headquarters at AFS Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado, said earlier this month.

According to FOL commander Maj. Rob Parker, who spoke with the Inuvik Drum last December, the Canadian Forces take part in NORAD exercises in Inuvik two or three times a year.

Last winter, the exercises included several CF-18 fighter jets, a Hercules aircraft and about 100 personnel from CFB Cold Lake in Alberta and CFB Winnipeg.

A spokesperson for National Defence in Ottawa said that as a precaution, the department was not releasing any information about the current activities of its equipment or staff.

The fact that there had been no flights in Inuvik yesterday made staff suspicious about the unclaimed carry-on bag.

"Rather than take any chances, just because of the nature of the day, we called the RCMP to come and handle the situation," Hunchak said.

At the time of the evacuation, the airport was largely empty as most passengers had by then heard of the flight cancellations.

Approximately 20 people -- mostly air carrier and airport staff -- were evacuated.

Flight services and air operations staff went to the fire hall, while the rest of the air carrier employees were asked to leave the area, Hunchak said. Most air carriers sent their employees home for the day.

The bag turned out to be ordinary carry-on luggage, and the airport was reopened about an hour after the evacuation began.

International carriers were diverting U.S-bound flights to Canadian airports Tuesday, but no commercial flight diversions made it as far as Inuvik.

Arrivals and departures from all NWT airports including those in the communities were suspended Tuesday, but medevac flights were excluded from the restrictions.

Transport Canada kept air travel across the country grounded for part of Wednesday as security was beefed up.