Routine check on Pamban rail bridge triggers bomb scare among locals

However, the police allayed the fears saying that it was a routine check. The Pamban bridge, one of the few railway bridges in India built across the sea, that connects Pamban island with the mainland is more than two km in length.

On Monday morning, panic spread among residents of fishing hamlets in and around Pamban when a team of the RPF, led by SI Radhakrishnan, along with bomb squad, bomb detectors and sniffer dogs conducted a check on the railway bridge. On seeing this, some persons mistook the search activities and spread rumours that a bomb had been planted on the bridge. As a result, a big crowd gathered near the bridge.

Further, the fishermen were not allowed to pass via Pamban rail bridge which added to their fears.

The bomb squad sleuths searched the entire two-kilometre stretch for more than 90 minutes but did not find anything.

One of the sleuths allayed the fears of the locals saying that the check was a routine activity. However, locals claimed that they had never seen such activities on the bridge in the recent past. He added that the exercise was carried out after some fishermen and locals recently were reportedly seen walking on the bridge.

Residents of Pamban said that they had never seen so many policemen were never seen conducting such a massive check on the bridge.

There is a strong suspicion among locals that the cops might have received a threat to the bridge.

They feel that the police were hesitant to reveal it as it would affect tourist arrivals at Rameswaram.