All Clear Given After Bomb Threat At Airport
[Updating] “There is an ongoing emergency situation at the L.F. Wade International Airport which has required that the facility be evacuated,” the police confirmed this evening.
A police spokesperson said, “Passengers have disembarked the British Airways flight that was due to leave this evening for the United Kingdom. All passengers are safe and well.
“As a result of this development, both the Causeway and Kindley Field Road will remain close while the situation is addressed. We will provide updates as they become available.”
Update 10.50pm: The police said, “The roads have been reopened to regular traffic flow.”
Update 10.58pm: The police said, “Regular traffic flow has been restored on both the Causeway and Kindley Field Road.”
Update 12.48am: The police said, “Shortly before 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 5th, 2024, police were notified by staff at the L.F. Wade International Airport, of a bomb threat that was received via e-mail. Staff also advised that emergency landing protocols had been initiated at the airport.
“Officers were dispatched to the Causeway and Kindley Field Road, which were both closed to vehicular traffic while the airport building and its environs were searched by airport security.
“Once the all-clear was given and the airport was declared safe, regular traffic flow was restored. We wish to thank the public for their patience and cooperation during this emergency road closure.”
It appears a similar situation has happened in at least two other islands in the past week.
Interesting. A quick Internet search on “bomb scare shuts down airport” with a Past Month filter shows that this is going on worldwide. Perhaps probing to see reactions to find the weakest links and/or the economic impact. Teenager(s) with too much time on their hands, etc. I hope that at least the IP address from the email was traced. Every bit of information helps. BPS should notify Interpol and see what information has been gathered from other incidents.
The Turks and Caicos Islands were hit twice! April 26 & 27. May 5, the Terrance B. Lettsome International Airport on the British Virgin Islands also shut down due to a bomb threat.
Some coordination with other police departments is definitely required!
There is nothing worse than terrorism. I’m sure this is being taken extremely seriously.
For all we know this could be a group of teenage hackers looking to see who can cause the most chaos and grab the headlines for bragging rights just to win a case of Red Bull.
Apparently, after the takeoff was aborted, it took an entire hour for airport operations to get a set of steps to the plane so that passengers could leave the plane.
It took so long that the BA captain had to declare a May Day emergency.
Typical of the incompetence in Bermuda these days. God knows what would happen if there actually were a more serious emergency at the airport.
Do you really expect Bermudians to hang around at night after the plane door has shut? Hilarious! It is tough enough to get the baggage unloaded during the daylight hours.
An absolute pathethic response from our airport emergency response. If I was the frustrated pilot of that BA flight I would report this incident to the FAA. Clearly there is NO EMERGENCY RESPONSE PROCEEDURE AT LF WADE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. If in fact there was a bomb on board, all 197 souls on board would have perished. 1 hour to get steps to the plane and emergency vehicles to respond.
Totally pathetic Bermuda.
Having a plan is irrelevant when people have left for the evening and no one/few people are there to execute the plan.
Emergency Plan
Step 1 – Call people back to the airport.
Step 2 – Follow-up calls to bring people back to the airport.
Step 3 – Repeat steps 1 & 2.
Whenever the airport is open and operational they are supposed to be able to react immediately to an emergency. Obviously that is not the case. Therefore it unfortunately looks like LF Wade is a place where you keep your fingers crossed and hope nothing bad happens. Because no help is coming.
Dangerous. Typical of the way everything is run around here.
Last time I looked, this is Bermuda where all things seem to be done differently from the rest of the world – except incompetence. Incompetence is universal.
Bermuda made international news! Great publicity!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/a-plane-full-of-passengers-was-evacuated-moments-before-takeoff-after-a-bomb-threat-was-emailed-to-air-traffic-control/ar-BB1lXSt9
The bomb threat made most of the mainstream British press.
On the brighter side, try https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/sailing/sailgp-bermuda-black-foils-extend-their-season-lead-with-podium-finish-in-bermuda/WJL4TZWZ3RH4NC5G5BPK7CJCGY/