Sint Maarten – Bomb Scare on Cruise Ship turns out to be a Hoax

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.