‘My American flag was melted,’ Olympian’s mom says after cruise ship blew up her bag

Law enforcement in Brazil have blown up several suspicious bags during the Rio Olympics, but the case of Cindy Lloyd’s blown up bag is particularly bizarre.

Lloyd, the mother of Carli Lloyd, a U.S. Olympic volleyball player, was staying on a Norwegian Cruise Line ship docked in Brazil during the games, according to the New York Times. She and her family were in a rush to get to her daughter’s first match last week, so she checked her suitcase in at the cruise ship before rushing off.

When she returned later that day, her suitcase and its contents were nothing but charred remains and security wanted to speak with her. After interrogating her for 10 minutes, they told her they blew her bag up because they thought it was a bomb.

“The handle was nowhere,” Lloyd told the Times. “It was completely blown up. There was some clothing. They use some sort of wet bomb, I think, because everything was wet. Some of the clothes were salvageable, but some were melted. Some had holes. My American flag was melted. And all the toiletries with caps had their caps blown off.”

Lloyd had flown on several flights down to Brazil and the bag hadn’t been stopped, according to the Times. Security told her bomb-sniffing dogs had flagged it.

To make matters more confusing for Lloyd, they handed her a cell phone they had retrieved from inside the bag, meaning they had opened her suitcase to retrieve the cell phone and then blown it up after.

Lloyd told the Times that Norwegian has been very apologetic about the issue and has promised to reimburse her for the bombed items and suitcase. They’ve also given her sparkling wine and free food.

This story was originally published August 15, 2016 at 4:41 PM with the headline "‘My American flag was melted,’ Olympian’s mom says after cruise ship blew up her bag."