ST. THOMAS — Someone called the 911 emergency call center at about 8:29 a.m. on Saturday, stating that a bomb had been placed at the Seaborne Airlines terminal in St. Thomas. The call immediately set into motion a series of events that resulted in the stalling of travel, with both V.I.P.D. and V.I. Port Authority officers being mobilized.
The officers, including V.I.P.A.’s K-9 units, inspected both the St. Thomas and St. Croix Seaborne Airlines terminals, but ultimately found no explosives, according to Monifa M. Braithwaite, V.I.P.A.’s public information officer, responding via email to The Consortium Saturday afternoon. The clear was given about two hours after the call, however the incident remains under investigation, Ms. Brathwaite said.
On St. Croix, as seen in this story’s feature image, police had cordoned off sections of road leading into the Watergut area near the Seaborne terminal as the search continued. Similar actions were taken in St. Thomas.
Saturday’s bomb threat against Seaborne Airlines was the second in two days. The first occurred after 4:00 p.m. on Friday, with a similar outcome to Saturday’s incident — although the all clear was given in in less time on Friday.
Bomb threats are always to be taken seriously, according to law enforcement, because no one knows when the threat is actually real. The penalty for the crime is stiff, when a man receiving jail time a few years back for making a similar threat against HOVENSA, the now-shuttered oil refinery that employed over 2,000 people at one point.
Tags: bomb threat, seaborne airlines, us virgin islands