SOFIA (Reuters) - Bulgarian authorities have found no explosive devices after checking bags found in a Belgian-registered van parked just outside the capital’s international airport, the interior ministry said on Tuesday.

Bulgarian police evacuated part of Sofia’s international airport around midday as a police bomb disposal squad, counter-terrorism officers, border guards, fire fighters and medical teams moved in around the vehicle.

Bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion on a bag in the van during the operation, which lasted more than four hours.

“No explosive device has been found inside the van,” the ministry said in a statement.

Earlier on Tuesday, the airport’s spokeswoman announced the authorities had found an explosive device but soon after that the airport’s chief executive corrected her statement.

The van had been parked outside the airport overnight, police said, and the owner was identified as not Bulgarian.