A bomb threat temporarily closed Port Canaveral and caused a cruise ship's departure to be delayed on Thursday.
The FBI is looking into an incident after an anonymous person emailed a Victory Casino Cruises boat the Port Canaveral saying there was a bomb threat at around 5 p.m., Florida Today reports.
Emergency boat crews set up an immediate safety zone and stopped all boats from entering leaving the port. Passengers and crew members on the 2,124-passenger Carnival Miracle cruise ship were not allowed to get on the boat as it was only one mile away from the casino boat that had the bomb threat.
Police entered to casino boat to inspect it but they did not find any signs of explosives.
"The safety of the public and all the responders was paramount as we assessed the credibility of this threat and determined there was no danger for those on or near the vessel," port Capt. Tom Allan said in a statement according to Florida Today. "Because of the excellent relationship we have with our local law enforcement partners, we were able to quickly determine the area is safe, allowing normal operations to resume."
The FBI is looking into the source of the threat. The port was later open to cruise traffic.
Port Canaveral is a very busy cruise port and might be one of the busiest in the world as it had 2.8 million cruise passengers pass through in 2010. The Port in Brevard County, FL also serves as a busy deep-water cargo facility which handles more than 2,700,000 tons of bulk cargo each year.
This isn't the first time someone said there was a bomb threat on a cruise ship. In December 2011, a woman called and said there was a bomb threat on board the Carnival Fascination as it was on it's way to a port in Jacksonville. The bomb threat was false.
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
