OMEN
09-04-2007, 10:00 AM
A child's grenade-shaped belt buckle caused a lengthy delay for passengers who were trying to leave a cruise ship Sunday morning, a Royal Caribbean spokeswoman said.
Thousands of cruise passengers aboard the Freedom of Seas vessel waited several hours as a Miami-Dade police bomb squad investigated the scene. Transportation Security Administrator workers spotted the belt buckle while screening a suitcase that was loaded off the ship.
Passengers were kept aboard the boat as a precaution, said Lynn Martenstein, a Royal Caribbean spokeswoman.
Some passengers were told to go back onto the ship as the terminal was evacuated, one passenger told The Miami Herald.
"It's entirely blocked off," Illinois resident Bonnie Knight said. "Not a soul in. Not a soul out."
The Freedom of Seas is the world's largest cruise ship. It can hold 4,300 passengers and 1,300 crew members, and was returning from an eastern Caribbean cruise.
Associated Press
Thousands of cruise passengers aboard the Freedom of Seas vessel waited several hours as a Miami-Dade police bomb squad investigated the scene. Transportation Security Administrator workers spotted the belt buckle while screening a suitcase that was loaded off the ship.
Passengers were kept aboard the boat as a precaution, said Lynn Martenstein, a Royal Caribbean spokeswoman.
Some passengers were told to go back onto the ship as the terminal was evacuated, one passenger told The Miami Herald.
"It's entirely blocked off," Illinois resident Bonnie Knight said. "Not a soul in. Not a soul out."
The Freedom of Seas is the world's largest cruise ship. It can hold 4,300 passengers and 1,300 crew members, and was returning from an eastern Caribbean cruise.
Associated Press