Travellers lose 25,000 items in Florida airport rampage
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Dan and Janice Kovacs and their two children were passing through airport security when the gunfire erupted. They were shoeless — with wallets, passports and carry-on items chugging along a conveyer belt — when they sprang into the mass of people running to safety.
Now they’re among stranded travellers at Fort Lauderdale trying to recover what the airport director says are 25,000 pieces of luggage, cellphones and other belongings separated from their owners during Friday’s shooting rampage.
“We have no IDs, we have no passports, no money,” Janice, 39, said Saturday afternoon, wearing sandals borrowed from a brother-in-law. “We just had to leave our stuff and run.”
“All our stuff is being processed. We might not even get that until Monday. I have an 11-year-old who is freaking out. This has been traumatic for her,” she said.