Suspected C4 Bomb Exploded At Port
Package Was Bound For Majesty Of The Seas
January 8, 2006
A pallet set to be loaded onto Royal Caribbean's cruise ship Majesty of the Seas sparked the latest scare Jan. 8th when a package tested positive -- not once, but six times -- for the military plastic explosive C4, according to Coast Guard Petty Officer James Judge.
Miami-Dade Police Department's bomb squad was called into the port to blow up the pallet sized package.
After the items set to be loaded onto the Majesty of the Seas were blown up at 3:30 p.m., federal authorities deemed them harmless, even though they had sparked the second security incident at the port in as many days.
''It was nothing; just sprinkler parts which apparently have the same characteristics as the plastic explosive C-4,'' said Miami-Dade police spokesman Robert Williams.
The sprinklers were intended to be installed on Majesty of the Seas during an upcoming refurbishment.
The U.S. Coast Guard requested that the ship, which had been evacuated, move to another berth to resume boarding. The incident briefly delayed the departure of the Majesty of the Seas, a Royal Caribbean ship. Scheduled to set sail at 4 p.m., it left just before 6 p.m. The ship, on a four-night trip with port calls in Nassau and Coco Cay, Bahamas, and Key West, is scheduled to return to the Port of Miami-Dade on Friday.
This is the second incident in a few days. Three men were arrested for suspicous activity at the Port Of Miami. Investigators later said it was a miscommunication between the three men in a truck, and police.
These events serve as a constant reminder that cruise ship passengers are at risk at sea, from more than Norvirus and a long list of domestic crimes.
In Other News: Bio Terrorism, Bird Flu, Or?
Police shut down 10 blocks in downtown Austin, Texas, for several hours Monday after 63 birds were found dead in the street. A few of those birds were found alive and had awkward movements and the inability to fly.
Workers in hazardous-materials suits tested for contaminants in a cordoned-off section near the state Capitol and the governor’s mansion.
Dr. Adolfo Valadez, medical director for the Austin and Travis County Health and Human Services Division, said the dead grackles, sparrows and pigeons were to be tested for signs of poison or viral infections.
Possible contaminants: Perchlorate
The first known tests of field-grown vegetables with suspected Perchlorate contamination were conducted in 1997 by Lucky Farms of San Bernardino, Calif., after the grower learned that its wells had been polluted with perchlorate from a former Lockheed Martin rocket-testing facility. This plume of Lockheed rocket fuel has polluted dozens of drinking water sources in San Bernardino County, and the five wells on Lucky Farms property have concentrations of perchlorate ranging from 20 to 130 ppb, averaging 40.1 ppb.
Studies of perchlorate accumulation are not just limited to controlled laboratory experiments. Researchers have found high levels of perchlorate in plants and animals living in contaminated areas such as the Alleghany Ballistics Laboratory in West Virginia, the Long Horn Army Ammunition Plant in Texas, the McGregor Naval Weapons Industrial Reserve plant in Texas — not far from President Bush’s ranch, north of Austin, Texas.
See the water pollution informational maps and extensive information on Texas water pollution - HERE
