Explosive scare sees Melbourne cruise ships evacuated

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Hundreds of passengers had to disembark two cruise ships at a Melbourne pier on Friday after an explosives scare prompted evacuations and a lockdown.

Victoria Police’s bomb response unit declared Station Pier safe on Friday afternoon after the Spirit of Tasmania and the MS Noordam were evacuated when sniffer dogs responded to a suspicious scent.

Operators said their focus was to resume pier operations and make sure all cruise passengers returned to their ships.

“It’s really about getting the passengers on board the vessel,” Port of Melbourne Corporation chief executive Nick Easy told AAP.

“It was a precautionary measure that was taken and this is the best possible outcome,”

During the bomb scare, truck drivers who did not want to be named said the suspicious package was in a load of groceries being delivered to the MS Noordam.

The groceries were unloaded on a pallet on the docks, and a sniffer dog became alerted by a small box on one of the pallets.

A second dog was brought in to check and it raised an alert for the same box.

The load of groceries would have been packed several days ago, the drivers said.

“We’re just a few of the drivers that drop off the boxes and take the empty ones back,” a driver told AAP.

“The dogs sniffed it out and that was it … the siren went off and we evacuated.”

Passengers said the evacuation went smoothly, but some were concerned about their safety.

American Marc Wichman had disembarked MS Noordam with his great-nephew Nick before the pier was evacuated.

“We have been told that there is a bomb threat on the ship that we’re on,” Mr Wichman told AAP.

Dorothy Stein, from Scotland, told AAP: “I think it is a little bit of a worry in view of what has happened in Paris.”

 

Latest News

  • Destinations
  • News

APT Launches 2025 Asia Adventures

APT has launched its Asia Adventures for 2025, including new luxury holidays in India, Sri Lanka and Japan. Five new tours lead guests to the highlights of India, including a seven-night cruise along the rarely travelled Lower Ganges aboard the Ganges Voyager. Further south, Sri Lanka’s greatest destinations are revealed on a new 15-day Land […]

  • Cruise
  • Luxury
  • News

Seabourn announces Western Kimberley Traditional Owners as Godparents of Seabourn Pursuit

Seabourn has named Western Kimberley Traditional Owners, the Wunambal Gaambera, as Godparents of the ultra-luxury purpose-built Seabourn Pursuit. It is the first cruise line to appoint Traditional Owners as godparents of a ship. Seabourn Pursuit embarks on its inaugural season in the Kimberley region this June. The naming ceremony will take place on Seabourn Pursuit’s […]

  • Luxury

Malolo Island Resort opens brand new Spa

Fiji’s Malolo Island has added another string to its bow – opening its $1.3 million day spa on Thursday, 18th April 2024. (Lead Image: matriarch Rosie Whitton with spa staff) Located at the edge of the resort’s luscious patch of tropical rainforest, the new “Leilani’s Spa” adds another level of elevated experiences to Malolo’s already […]