(The Press of Atlantic City posted the following article on its website on July 17.)
EGG HARBOR CITY, N.J. — A bomb threat forced police to evacuate a Philadelphia-bound passenger train at the Egg Harbor City train station late Sunday night, police said.
Witnesses said a toolbox-shaped object was removed from the train and was detonated by police shortly before 1 a.m. today.
“They just blew something up, right on the street,” said Maggie D’Ambra, who lives near the station on Cincinnati Avenue. D’Ambra said her son was among about 200 passengers evacuated.
Egg Harbor City police confirmed the investigation but referred all questions to NJ Transit police. A transit police spokesman said the train was stopped and police were there, but did not know why.
The train was still being searched at 1 a.m., according to a man who was aboard the train and asked to remain anonymous.
The man said a passenger told a conductor that he had a bomb and the train was stopped and evacuated just after 11 p.m.
Witnesses in the neighborhood said passengers were waiting in a park across the street while about 20 police officers surrounded the train. Buses were sent for the evacuated passengers.
This was the second such evacuation at the station since April.
Authorities arrested a Penn-sylvania man after an April 5 bomb scare despite the fact that a search turned up nothing dangerous.