Sleeping man rides on baggage belt

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ROME, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- A Rome airport said security procedures were not to blame for a drunk tourist taking a 15-minute ride on a luggage belt.

Officials at Fiumicino airport said a 36-year-old Norwegian man who arrived at the hub's international terminal with a beer in his hand hopped over a counter at the airline desk and fell asleep on the baggage belt, which at the time was not moving, The Daily Telegraph reported Thursday.

The officials said the belt began to move and the man rode for about 15 minutes before a worker spotted him passing through an X-ray machine.

A Fiumicino official said the incident did not result from a security weakness and was not the first to involve "drunks or people with psychological problems."

"There's usually an episode like this once a year and we are alert," the official said. "In this case we were notified we sounded the alarm immediately and we took action."