Man Won't Foot Bill for Airport Closure

Link : http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20041105/ap_on_fe_st/airport_closed&e=3


FORT WAYNE, Ind. - A man whose leaking luggage closed the Fort Wayne International Airport for 10 hours in August will not have to pay a $22,000 bill for hazardous material cleanup.



American Airlines paid the bill Thursday, said John McGauley, spokesman for the Allen County commissioners.


Officials closed the airport Aug. 18 and delayed about 40 flights after an unidentified liquid leaking from unclaimed luggage made one employee violently ill and prompted medical treatment for seven others.


The substance proved to be rose water ?- an ingredient in perfume and cosmetics containing oil from rose petals.


The luggage belonged to Safwan Akkari, a mathematics professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. Akkari said he received a bill from Allen County in September for $22,721.57 for the hazardous material cleanup at the airport.


"I was shocked to receive something like this," he told The Journal Gazette for a Friday story. "It was so absurd."


The invoice shows the biggest cost from the airport scare was $17,000 for the Fort Wayne Fire Department's response, which included 10 vehicles.


Akkari said he uses rose water to make desserts, such as baklava. He said he hasn't bought any since the airport closure.


"I don't think I'll ever use it again," he said.