The alleged plot to blow up passenger jets over the Atlantic Ocean delayed a homecoming for 43 Snohomish and Island county high school students last week.
The traveling teens were plunged into the chaos that unfolded at London’s Heathrow Airport just hours after authorities apprehended 24 terror suspects in Britain and 17 in Pakistan.
“It was just a whirl,” said Teri Albers, a University Place primary school teacher and chaperone on the trip. “There were so many people and everywhere you looked there were machine guns and dogs, it was really scary for the students.”
The students were traveling with the Spokane-based People to People Student Ambassador Program.
People to People was established by President Eisenhower in 1956 as a part of his citizen diplomacy initiative. At the time, many people in the world were worried about communism. Today, terrorism is the new menace.
On Aug. 10, the young diplomats from the Northwest got a firsthand view of one of the biggest challenges facing their generation.
The local students were returning to Seattle after a 20-day trip to France, Italy, Monaco and Malta, when the terrorism scare triggered gridlock and confusion at Heathrow.
Their first hint that something was wrong came when their Air Malta pilot announced mid-flight that an incident in London might prevent them from landing.
They did land at their destination, but the jetliner sat on the tarmac for about 45 minutes.
Inside Europe’s busiest airport, disorder ruled.
As British authorities scrambled, long lines snaked around checkpoints, flights were cancelled and conflicting instructions were given, adding to the confusion.
The local group only had a vague idea of what was going on.
There was talk about terrorism, rumors of cell phone bombs and even buzz that the United Airlines flight they were scheduled to fly home on was targeted by terrorists.
The students wouldn’t learn until they reached Chicago about the details of the alleged plot to bomb up to 10 U.S.-bound flights from England.
“We actually knew less about what was going on than the people back home did,” 16-year-old Edmonds-Woodway High School student John Ritzman said.
Every person was hand searched and forbidden from taking carry-on luggage.
Students were told to place their wallets and passports in plastic bags as they checked into the flight to Chicago.
Security officials at the airport also told them to surrender lanyards around their necks, which included emergency contact phone numbers and information about the program.
“You didn’t think. You just did what they told you to do,” Albers said. “Everywhere you went there was a full body search. They even took my Chapstick.”
After slogging through long lines for four hours, the group was permitted to board their Chicago-bound flight.
But before it took off, they had to wait another two hours.
Ritzman said students were irritated by the delays, but understood why most of the extra precautions were taken, he said.
The delays forced the students to miss a connecting flight from Chicago to Seattle. It wasn’t until Sunday that they could be reunited with their families and luggage.
Monroe High School senior Erin Palmer said she was too young to fully understand what was happening during the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.
Since then, her world view has been further shaped by events, including the war on terror and last summer’s coordinated terrorist attacks which killed 56 people during the morning rush hour in London.
Now, the 17-year-old tries to understand why terrorists would plan another act of mass murder.
“It’s horrifying, but I do see that is their idea of justice. It’s sad people think that’s the just thing to do,” Palmer said.
She said she wishes the Middle East was stable enough for the young ambassadors program to operate there.
If young people could reach across boundaries of religion and politics, the seeds of peace could be sown, she said.
“It’s one thing for adults to visit (the Middle East) but the kids are the future,” she said. “The next generation is trying to make a difference.”
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