A man in a wheelchair ignited a home-made explosive device at Beijing’s international airport Saturday, state media reported, injuring himself but no others.
The man, identified as Ji Zhongxing from Shandong province and born in 1979, was being treated for injuries, the state-run Xinhua news agency said, citing police.
The explosion, which occurred in the airport’s Terminal 3 just outside the arrivals exit, caused no other injuries but the blast nonetheless created momentary panic and confusion at one of the world’s busiest airports.
Pictures posted online showed a female Chinese police officer waving crowds back as dense white smoke drifted across the terminal.
A Chinese microblogger, under the username Ruhuaerdaye who had come to the airport to pick up his wife, posted: “Right now this place is full of armed police and firefighters”, adding he could see “one person lying on the floor covered in white cloth, nearby is a wheelchair toppled over and a suitcase”.
Xinhua said the blast came at about 6:24 pm (1024 GMT), adding that police were investigating.
Police and the airport’s information office could not immediately be reached for comment while Xinhua reported that Ji’s injuries were not thought to be life-threatening.
China Central Television’s Twitter-like microblog said no flights were affected by the incident and that the situation had returned to normal.
A photographer at the airport said there was no sign of increased police presence and travellers were arriving normally.
Photos carried on Xinhua’s website showed what appeared to be medical and other workers attending to someone on the floor and people running through the terminal amid white-coloured smoke.
Security at Beijing’s airport, the sixth busiest in the world with 557,000 take-offs and landings each year, is tight as are many public locations and transport hubs in the country.