POINTE BLANCHE:--- A crew member from Reflection Cruise Ship (CELEBRITY CRUISE LINES) made what appeared to be a bad joke as she was entering the ship on Wednesday afternoon. Police Spokesman Ricardo Henson said that the crew member told the security officers on board the ship that she had a bomb inside her bag. Henson said the security officers did not take the comments lightly and they immediately notified police of the comments made to them by the crew member.
Henson said that police also did not take the information lightly and as such they rushed to the A.C. Wathey Cruise Facility and conducted the necessary searches. Henson said traffic was backed up and police had to do their very best to clear the traffic on Pointe Blanche road. The police spokesman said that the incident happened when passengers/tourists were heading back to the ship therefore there was a huge amount of traffic in the Pointe Blanche area.
Bomb Scare on Cruise Ship turns out to be a Hoax. Operations resume as normal after all clearance given.
A bomb scare on board a cruise ship docked at the Dr. A.C. Wathey Cruise and Cargo Facility on Wednesday afternoon turned out to be a hoax.
At approximately 4:00pm on Wednesday afternoon January 7th, St. Maarten Port Security was alerted about the situation and access to the cruise ship was closed off. Local Police authorities were alerted about the possible bomb threat and mobilized personnel who made their way to the port.
Police, Port Security and the Captain of the vessel discussed the situation. A search of the vessel was carried out and the vessel was cleared of any threats.
Port St. Maarten and police after receiving the call from the cruise ship carried out its security protocols in such an event. The investigation done by the police authorities indicated that a female crew member was in the process of passing through security of the cruise ship when the metal detector went off. Cruise ship security asked that person what she had in her pocket and she replied, 'a bomb.'
After the all clear sign was given around 4:45pm by Cruise Ship Security and the Police, the port complex was reopened and operations continued as normal. As a result of this "bomb threat" traffic had to be diverted this caused the traffic to backup for approximately an hour.
The Captain of the vessel, local Police authorities and prosecutors office in consultation with each other decided to turn the further investigation over to the U.S. authorities. The name of the cruise line and vessel will not be released due to further investigation.
KPSM Police Report