London's Gatwick Airport reopens terminal following security alert

London's Gatwick Airport, the second busiest airport in Britain, reopened a terminal on Friday after a security alert earlier in the day forced its evacuation and caused travel disruption for thousands of people.

Police sent a bomb disposal team to deal with a suspected prohibited item that they said had been found in luggage at the airport's south terminal, 30 miles south of London.

"The earlier security alert has now been resolved and cleared by police," Gatwick said in a statement. "The South Terminal is reopening to staff and will be open to passengers shortly."

The incident disrupted weekend travel plans for thousands of passengers, with more than 600 flights due to land or take off on Friday from Gatwick, amounting to more than 121,000 passenger seats, according to data from aviation analytics firm Cirium.

Thousands of passengers were seen outside the terminal and the surrounding area in videos posted online after the terminal shut for several hours. Emergency foil blankets were distributed to some of the passengers who were waiting in the cold, social media pictures showed.

In a separate incident earlier on Friday, London police carried out a controlled explosion near the U.S. embassy in south London after discovering a suspect package. Police later said they believed it was a hoax.