A female airport worker was taken to hospital and six people “quarantined” after an envelope containing a suspicious substance was discovered at the facility.

Police, fire and ambulance crews were sent to the LF Wade International Airport to deal with the incident yesterday.

Speaking around two hours after the alert, Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police Martin Weekes said: “Just after 5pm, the Department of Airport Operations at LF Wade International Airport reported to the police that there was an envelope which they had concerns about.

“The emergency services responded, and the envelope was taken to the police station for further investigation. We are treating it as a suspicious package at this time, until we decide otherwise.”

Mr Weekes said a Government analyst was examining the package to determine the contents, but “we are not treating it as explosive at this time”.

He added: “One of the staff who initially opened the package has gone to the hospital as a routine procedure and there aren’t any major injuries.”

He was unable to give an age or parish of residence for the staff member, but said she is female.

He also declined to comment on where the package had been sent from.

Police spokesman Dwayne Caines stated during an earlier media briefing that three people had been quarantined from Airport Operations as a precaution, along with three first responders.

The airport remained open and arrivals and departures were not affected. However, the parking area near the arrivals hall was cordoned off.

Giving an update just before 830pm yesterday, Airport General Manager Aaron Adderley said: “It has been concluded that there is no danger. There were no disruptions to normal airport operations as a result of the incident.”

Passengers and local residents at the airport looked on curiously as the emergency workers dealt with the incident.

A 33-year-old Devonshire woman who arrived on the British Airways flight with her 13-year-old daughter commented: “It was a bit of a shock to see all the blue lights but I have heard about such scares before, and people tend to overreact.”

A 74-year-old Devonshire woman who was at the airport to pick up a friend from the same flight said: “We asked someone what was going on and two of the taxi drivers speculated that the passengers would not be able to get off the plane, but shortly afterwards a man in uniform said everything was going to be all right. I’m glad to see they are on top of it.”