MEXICO CITY, Mexico — Tourists were sent scrambling by loud bangs heard at the international airport in the Mexican resort of Cancun Monday.
Flights were briefly suspended after authorities received reports of gunshots at the airport, the National Guard said in a statement. But those noises were confirmed not to be gunfire, and instead were caused by three advertisement signs that were accidentally knocked down by a traveler, the airport's Emergency Operations Center indicated in a statement.
"After investigating the reported incidents, the findings are that this was a case of a false alarm caused by a misinterpretation by some airport users of a loud noise that was heard," the statement read. "The noise was caused by three 'totem-style' signposts, each weighing approximately 50 kg (110 lb), which fell over after being inadvertently pushed by a passenger who was rushing to reach their boarding gate."
People began spreading unconfirmed reports of the noise, activating emergency protocols and an evacuation of terminal three, the Operations Center said.
One passenger at the airport told KARE 11 in Minnesota: "We were waiting at the gate, seated, and moments after the crew offered pre-boarding, there was a loud noise and a crowd of people ran by screaming."
"Several people yelled ‘get down!'" the Twin Cities traveler said. "Several passengers and the gate crew ran down the jetway to the plane. One older woman fell and was stepped on by another young lady in the chaos."
On Twitter, people inside the airport shared videos of mass panic, with alarms sounding and people hiding behind columns.
Passengers onboard aircraft shared videos of people outside evacuating onto the tarmac.
The nervousness also reflects the wave of violence and deaths that have blotted Cancun’s reputation as a laid-back get-away.
Last week, authorities found four bodies dumped in undergrowth in Cancun, and said they were part of a total of 13 murders committed by the Jalisco cartel in the resort since September. Most of the bodies were found in vacant lots or houses.
The Caribbean coast, Mexico’s top tourist money-maker, has been hit by rampant violence.
In January, prosecutors said the killing of two Canadians near Cancun was motivated by debts between international gangs apparently dedicated to drug and weapons trafficking.
In late October, farther south in the laidback destination of Tulum, two tourists — one a California travel blogger born in India and the other German — were caught in the apparent crossfire of rival drug dealers and killed.
