Bomb scare at mall due to unattended bag

CEBU, Philippines — An unattended luggage bag left outside a fast food joint in a mall at the North Reclamation Area scared some mall goers and staff at about 10 a.m. yesterday.

Workers of the fast food joint noticed the bag and suspected that it was a bomb as no one claimed it for hours.

"What happened was, there was a luggage that was left behind at North Alfresco-1 area. We were also alarmed because it was left there. It's unusual to the normal operations," said Ramon Matthew Reyes-Basabe, marketing manager of Parkmall.

Basabe said the old orange luggage bag was left outside the fast food chain right near the drive thru pick up counter.

It was later determined by the mall's security team that a costumer of the mall bought a new luggage bag and just left the old one outside the fast food chain.

The bag was full of travel stickers and the owner looks like a tourist.

Mall management called the police and upon checking, it was found by the bomb disposal team that the bag was empty.

Trained K-9 dogs were also in the area.

Basabe assured that security measures of the mall are in place and bags of customers are always checked upon entering the premises.

Mall security personnel are checking the CCTV footage to possibly identify the owner of the luggage. — Tanja Catherine R. Stöckli  and Jahzeel Will S. Coquico, USC interns, MBG (FREEMAN)