Busted alarm clock prompts bomb scare at Southeast ferry terminal

Hollis ferry terminal on Prince of Wales Island. (KRBD file photo)
Hollis ferry terminal on Prince of Wales Island. (KRBD file photo)

A bomb scare at a Southeast Alaska ferry terminal last week prompted a building evacuation and caused an InterIsland Ferry Authority’s vessel to turn around and head back to Ketchikan.

It was all because of a broken alarm clock.

IFA General Manager Dennis Watson said around 2:30 p.m. Thursday — the day before the 9/11 anniversary — an IFA employee at the Hollis terminal on Prince of Wales Island found a suspicious-looking item in the trash can.

The employee called the terminal manager who came to inspect the item. Eventually, the Troopers were called. They made the call to evacuate the building and clear a 300-foot blast zone around the area.

Watson said troopers took photos and looked at the terminal’s surveillance video to see who had put the item in the garbage can. Troopers spokeswoman Megan Peters said they were able to identify that person.

“After doing some investigation and looking at surveillance, we were able to contact the person that threw the item away and it turns out it was just an alarm clock that had gotten broken and so they discarded it,” she said.

Watson said the item in question was not obviously a broken clock.

“I saw a picture of the suspicious item, and I definitely would have called the Troopers in on it,” he said. “It looked like the real deal.”

Peters said the employees who called Troopers to investigate did the right thing.

“We do appreciate people being cautious and that’s what should happen when there’s any kind of suspicion surrounding devices, especially when it comes to our travel everywhere,” she said. “But this one, it seems it was a broken alarm clock so the person threw it away.”

While Troopers were investigating the device, the ferry that makes daily runs between Ketchikan and Hollis was ordered to turn around. Watson said once they got the all-clear, the ferry headed back to Prince of Wales and arrived about three hours late.

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