posted on Jan, 12 2003 @ 03:24 PM
Panic Rooms to Protect British Royals -- and Dogs
Sun January 12, 2003
LONDON (Reuters) - Concerns over a possible terror attack have prompted Britain's Queen Elizabeth to order high-tech "panic rooms" to be installed
at Buckingham Palace, a British newspaper reported on Sunday.
The Sunday Times said the secure rooms encased in 18-inch-thick steel walls would provide shelter for the royal family from bombings, gas attacks,
assassination attempts -- and even a direct hit by a light aircraft.
The rooms, which the paper said were ordered after a security review after last year's Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, would be equipped with
secure communications, and everything needed to survive for at least a week.
No one at Buckingham Palace was immediately available for comment.
Tom Gaffney, owner of Gaffco which manufactures the panic rooms, told the paper each room would cost about $1 million and would be concealed from
view.
But he said security experts would have advised the queen to take her beloved corgi dogs into the room with her in the event of an attack.
"If you leave them outside, they'll sniff you out and their barking would give you away."
� Copyright Reuters 2002.
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