Drunk man falls asleep on baggage belt at Italian airport
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A drunk Norwegian tourist raised a security alarm at an Italian airport after he fell asleep on a baggage belt and travelled 160 feet before being spotted by an X-ray scanner.
Rome's Fiumicino airport has defended its security procedures after the drunk Norwegian tourist fell asleep on the baggage belt.
The 36-year-old, who has not been named, arrived at the international terminal of Italy's busiest airport at the end of last month with a backpack and a can of beer in his hand.
The Norwegian was due to check in for a flight to Oslo and when he found no one on duty at the airline desk he leapt across the counter and fell into a deep asleep on the baggage belt with his bag beside him, the Daily Mail reported.
As the belt began to move the unsuspecting tourist reportedly travelled for 15 minutes through the secure baggage area before officials spotted his body curled up in a foetal position in an X-ray image on their monitors.
He slept through the whole episode and airport police had trouble waking him when they were called to the scene to investigate what had happened.
A senior officer with Fiumicino airport police yesterday said the incident exposed no weaknesses in the terminal's security and it was not the first kind of incident involving "drunks or people with psychological problems".
"There's usually an episode like this once a year and we are alert," the official said. "In this case we were notified we sounded the alarm immediately and we took action," the official added.
Concerned about the tourist's exposure to the powerful X-rays, police took him to a nearby hospital before reporting him to prosecutors at Civitavecchia for causing alarm at the airport. Inquiries are continuing.
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