(Bloomberg) -- Mexico authorities said they found no evidence of gunshots or explosions at Cancun's international airport after they received reports of shots fired and tourists fled the terminal in panic.
Videos posted to social media earlier on Monday showed travelers running outside of the building while carrying their luggage. In another video, National Guard members can be seen running inside of the terminal and going up an escalator.
The sound of explosions may have been due to a traveler accidentally knocking three signs to the ground, Mexico's National Guard said on Twitter. Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste SAB, the airport operator, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Authorities “are working to find the cause of the multiple versions surrounding Cancun's airport, not finding any signs of detonations or explosions,” Lucio Hernandez Gutierrez, the police chief of the state of Quintana Roo, said on Twitter. He had tweeted earlier that police were responding to reports of shots fired.
The incident comes just hours after at least 19 people were killed in a shooting in the state of Michoacan on Sunday night, in what was the latest in a string of mass killings as cartels war over territory across the country. It also follows various drug-related shootings in the Cancun area in recent months, one of which left bystanders dead, which may have contributed to the concerned response from travelers at the Cancun airport.
Read More: Latest Mexico Shooting Leaves at Least 19 Dead in Michoacan
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador stationed 1,500 National Guard members in the Cancun area to respond to the shootings. Violence has escalated in the region just as flights and hotel occupancy begin to recover from the pandemic.
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