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Bomb scare at NY station
24/07/2005 21:34 - (SA)
Karen Matthews
New York - A bomb scare emptied Pennsylvania Station on Sunday and disrupted service on trains and city subways for about an hour.
The busy commuter hub was evacuated after someone threw a backpack at an Amtrak agent and said it was a bomb, said a spokesperson for New York City Transit.
The threat was a false alarm.
Sarah Swain, an Amtrak spokesperson, said service was suspended because of police activity and declined to discuss details.
The incident came days after the latest bombing attack in London, which prompted New York police to start random inspections of subway riders' bags.
After evacuating Penn Station, police sealed the Eighth Avenue entrance with yellow tape and moved everyone across the avenue to the west side.
The incident was over as quickly as it began. One minute, camouflage-clad soldiers were shouting, "Penn Station is closed indefinitely," and the next minute they got the all clear and started letting people into the station.
Travellers seemed to be taking the disruption in stride.
Tim Allen, a Londoner headed from New York to Boston, said he has endured similar false alarms recently in London.
"This is the second time this has happened in two and a half weeks to me," he said.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced on Thursday following the failed bomb attacks in London that police would begin conducting random searches of packages and backpacks carried by people entering the subways.
- AP
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