Vancouver Bomb Scare Triggered by Discarded Walkman

Published Mar 11, 2015

A public transit bomb scare in Vancouver was defused yesterday (March 10) after it was discovered that the supposed explosive was nothing more than a good old-fashioned Walkman.The Province newspaper reports that city's SeaBus service had been halted after a suspicious-looking package had been discovered on the Burrard Beaver vessel during yesterday's afternoon rush hour.After the craft was evacuated, members of the RCMP's Explosives Disposal Unit and bomb-sniffing dogs were brought aboard to investigate. A robot was sent to get close up to the item, hidden beneath a seat on the SeaBus, which was discovered to be a portable cassette player."We had to err on the side of caution," Transit Police spokeswoman Anne Drennan said in a statement. "Apologies for everyone for the inconvenience ... but there's no other choice. You have to deal with it as if it could be a real explosive device."Service on the Burrard Beaver, which runs trips between stations in Vancouver and neighbouring North Vancouver, resumed around 9 p.m. local time after a three-hour delay. Commuters had been put onto shuttle buses while SeaBus service was shut down.While the good news is that the bomb scare proved to be a false alarm, the bad news is that modern society just isn't familiar with the sight of a cassette-loaded Walkman anymore. This does makes sense, considering Sony discontinued the analogue item a few years back. Fortunately, the electronics makers are prepping a digital music player of the same name to keep up brand awareness, but it will come at a hefty price of $1,200 US ($1,415 CDN).