PORT TOWNSEND — Port Townsend-Coupeville ferry service was shut down by a bomb threat for three and a half hours Tuesday night.
Nothing was found, and ferry service was back to normal with the 8:30 p.m. Port Townsend run to Coupeville and the 9:15 p.m. Coupeville sailing to Port Townsend.
Port Townsend police, State Patrol troopers, bomb-sniffing dogs and other law-enforcement officers searched the Port Townsend terminal, both ferries, the parking lot and waiting vehicles and dock area.
The threat came in via a text message that arrived about 5 p.m. indicating some kind of explosive on a ferry or at the Port Townsend terminal, the State Patrol said.
It was not immediately clear to whom the text had been sent. or who had sent it.
The two Port Townsend-Coupeville ferries, Salish and Kennewick, were held at the Port Townsend docks.
Four sailings were canceled — the 5:15 p.m and 6:45 p.m.sailings from Port Townsend for Coupeville and the 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Coupeville departures for Port Townsend.
In addition to the State Patrol and Port Townsend police, Jefferson County sheriff’s deputies were at the ferry terminal, and a Coast Guard patrol boat checked the dock area.
