airport.

It is alleged there was a huge crush at the Civil Air Terminal yesterday afternoon.

Arriving passengers apparently had to wait over three hours to reach the customs area.

The claims were made by National Liberal Party chairman Mr. Geoff Parker.

"As a passenger, and a Bermudian, I was very embarrassed as foreign tourists were introduced to Bermuda in this way,'' he said. "The vast numbers of passengers and baggage surely superceded the very minimum safety requirements by a long shot.

"It is a miracle that no one was seriously hurt. If a fire happened or some panic for whatever reason broke out hundreds of persons would have been hurt seriously and some very possible fatally.'' Last night Mr. Jim Pitman, director of Civil Aviation, said he had no knowledge of the alleged crush.

"I will be looking into it first thing in the morning,'' he said.

He added: "I haven't heard from anybody about it.'' New Transport Minister the Hon. Maxwell Burgess was also taken by surprise.

He said he had been in touch with Mr. Pitman over the allegations and an investigation would be launched.

Mr. Parker described the scene at the airport yesterday as "appalling'', and he fired an angry salvo at Government.

"The National Liberal Party does not want to hear any excuses from the Government over this incident.

"The National Liberal Party wants some positive action to ensure that this type of debacle never happens again.'' Mr. Parker went on: "If the Bermuda Government cannot run the Airport arrival area after 25 years of trying then they should give up and turn it over to private enterprise and then resign.''