A US air base in Italy has gone into lockdown over an unspecified incident on Wednesday morning.
Online posts initially described Naval Air Station Sigonella – home to 7,000 troops and their families – as being locked down “due to an ongoing situation”.
Calls to the US Navy‘s 6th Fleet, which oversees European operations, were not answered and an email to the fleet was not immediately acknowledged.
A social media post on the official air base’s profile later confirmed that a “shelter-in-place” order had been implemented, but this was lifted by 11:25am local time.
As the name suggests, a shelter-in-place order instructs people to seek shelter where they are rather than fleeing a scene.
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“NAS Sigonella, Today’s shelter-in-place was ordered in response to a security incident. The situation was cleared at 11:25 a.m. and the shelter-in-place has been lifted. Inbound and outbound traffic lanes at the NAS 2 base entry control point are open. We are grateful to our Navy Security Force personnel for their quick response,” the social media message read.
Comments under the post praised the teams involved but refrained from sharing any further information about what happened.
“Extremely proud of the entire team! Everyone showed up and executed as required!!!” wrote one person.
The update followed after a number of earlier alerts, which suggested whatever happened occurred at a gate for the base.
It urged service members to “avoid traveling on highway SP105 between Marinai Housing Complex” and a part of the base, as well as confirming that the entry points had been locked down.
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NAS Sigonella is outside of Catania on the island of Sicily and is situated on a base that also supports the Italian Air Force.
It’s also a crucial air base as it hosts US Navy P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft and MQ-4C Triton drones, among other key US military aircraft.
Describing NAS Sigonella, the US Navy website says: “We are the strategic “Hub of the Med” and indispensable to our nation’s mission throughout Europe, Africa, and Southwest Asia.”
The base is also home to 39 other U.S. commands and activities, including US Space Force personnel who work on identifying possible missile threats in the region.
The base has been in operation since 1959, and is considered the US Navy’s second-largest security command after a base in Bahrain.
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