U.S. shipping terminal evacuated after ‘dirty bomb’ threat
Federal and local authorities evacuated a terminal at the Port of Charleston in South Carolina on Wednesday to investigate a “potential threat” in a container ship, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
UPDATE: Maersk Line, a part of A.P. Moller-Maersk, said on Thursday that it had been informed by the U.S. Coast Guard about a threat of a ‘dirty bomb’ aboard the Maersk Memphis container ship upon its arrival at the Port of Charleston, South Carolina.
“The vessel was immediately evacuated and all crew is safe and ashore. We are cooperating fully with the authorities handling the situation,” Maersk said in a statement.
loading...
The U.S. Coast Guard said in statement authorities were made aware of the potential threat in a container aboard the vessel at about 8 p.m. local time (midnight GMT) and that the terminal had been evacuated.
The vessel arrived at the port from New York and prior to that sailed from Oman, according to ThomsonReuters data.
Coast Guard officials described the threat as a possible “dirty bomb” on the Maersk Memphis ship docked in the Wando Terminal, where hazardous materials crews and rescue workers were seen working, an NBC affiliate in South Carolina reported.
The U.S. Coast Guard said in statement authorities were made aware of the potential threat in a container aboard the vessel at about 8 p.m. local time (midnight GMT) and that the terminal had been evacuated.
Loading...