About 2,500 international passengers were stranded for as long as five hours on planes and in terminals at Los Angeles International Airport because a computer shutdown prevented them from passing through customs, authorities said.
The passengers were stranded in four airport terminals and on runways starting at about 1.30 pm (local time) on Saturday because of a breakdown in a computer system that contains names of arriving passengers and law enforcement data about them including arrest warrants, said Mike Fleming, a Customs and Border Protection spokesman.
"That system allows our officers to make decisions on who we can allow to enter the United States," Fleming said. "You just don't know by looking at them."
The cause of the shutdown was not known, and there was no estimate on when the system would be repaired, Fleming said. Customs officials were working to divert incoming flights to airports in Ontario, California, and Las Vegas, Fleming said. - DDNEWS
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