Bomb threat shuts B.C. ferry terminals

Sailings were halted at a B.C. ferry terminalSaturday eveningas police investigated a bomb threat, causing delays for hundreds of people trying to travel between the mainland and Vancouver Island, ferry officials said.

The bomb threat wascalled in to 911late Saturday afternoon by a man at a Coquitlam mall payphone who said it involved BC Ferries, David Hahn, president of BC Ferries, told CBC News.

As a result, the Victoria-bound Queen of New Westminsterferry was turned around and returned to port in Tsawwassen.

Bomb-sniffing dogs were deployed on that vessel and another, the Queen of Vancouver,as well as roughly 1,000 vehicles parked at the ferry terminal in Tsawwassen.

TheTsawwassenferry terminal wasclosed after the threat, cancelling the rest of the day'ssailings to Swartz Bay (Victoria), the southern Gulf Islands and Duke Point (Nanaimo).

Hahn said thatthe delays were "greatly inconveniencing a lot of customers" and offered a $50,000 reward to anyone who has information that might lead to the person who made the threat.

Around 9 p.m., passengers and vehiclesalready at the terminal that had been searched were boarded on ferries and taken to their destinations.

RCMP asked others who needed to go to Vancouver Island travel to Horseshoe Bay in West Vancouver, where they can board a ferry to Nanaimo. Extra ferries were put on the Horseshoe Bay-Departure Bay (Nanaimo) run.