RAMESWARAM: The ‘Pamban road bridge’, a key infrastructure link connecting the pilgrim-island to the mainland, was on Saturday totally sanitized and all tourists and other vehicles cleared in the wake of a bomb threat to it.
Sources told DC here that the Ramanathapuram district police wished to take no chances in the wake of the recent police firing in Thoothukudi, following a bomb threat call received by the DGP’s office in Chennai earlier today that a bomb could go off anytime on the historic bridge.
Pamban police were quickly alerted through the district police headquarters by the DGP’s office and since then there has been a flurry of activity as cops thoroughly comb every span of the bridge with metal detectors and sniffer dogs.
Tourists enjoying the scenic beauty of the Rameswaram island and the sea beyond, taking vantage points on the Pamban bridge, were immediately asked to leave the place, even as private cars and other vehicles were told to move away, sources said. A high-level police contingent led by Ramanathapuram DIG, Kamini, personnel of the bomb detection and disposal squad along with sniffer dogs from Ramnad continued with their checks on the Pamban bridge.
Preliminary investigations showed that the bomb threat call was allegedly made by a mentally disturbed 12-year-old boy from Namakkal district. Further probe is on.
