EDMONDS – A bomb threat Monday shut down the Edmonds-Kingston ferry route for half the day before police determined it was a hoax.
The ferry run carries about 11,800 people daily and is a major commercial route serving the Kitsap Peninsula.
The closure came after a crew member aboard the ferry Spokane found a note in a men’s restroom on the car deck just after 9 a.m., said Washington State Patrol Sgt. Craig Johnson. The note mentioned a bomb, he said, but declined to elaborate.
The ferry Puyallup, sailing from Kingston, was diverted to Seattle and the route was closed for several hours as police examined the Spokane for explosives.
Full ferry service was restored by 2:30 p.m., said Susan Harris-Huether, a ferry spokeswoman.
The note was discovered as the ferry was loading passengers in Edmonds, she said. About 16 cars and five people were evacuated. The boat was secured to the dock and the crew also disembarked.
A multi-agency bomb squad used three bomb-sniffing dogs to sweep the 440-foot vessel, Johnson said.
“Anytime we get a threat like this, we need to take it as the real deal,” he said.
During the search, officers found a suspicious substance in a different restroom, Johnson said. A hazardous materials team was brought aboard and determined the substance wasn’t dangerous.
Bomb threats aboard state ferries occur two or three times a year, Harris-Huether said.
The threat disrupted a major commercial route between Snohomish County and the west edge of the state, including the Olympic Peninsula.
In 2006, the Edmonds-Kingston route carried more than 4.3 million people, according to ferry documents. It’s the single biggest commercial route in the state ferry system, Harris-Huether said.
The Spokane is capable of carrying up to 2,000 people during the 30-minute ride across Puget Sound.
Service was last disrupted March 21 when a passenger who normally walks on the ferry forgot that he had driven his car. He left it parked on the car deck when the vessel arrived in Edmonds. Police were summoned, but the car’s owner returned and the situation was sorted out in about an hour.
The State Patrol is investigating Monday’s bomb threat, Johnson said.
“Obviously we’ll try to do everything we can forensically” to find evidence from the note, he said.
“Hopefully we can track down a person responsible.”
Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.
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