Skytrain bomb was crude but 'extremely dangerous,' could have done serious damage to a train: Poli

Skytrain bomb was crude but 'extremely dangerous,' could have done serious damage to a train: Police

This happened yesterday afternoon but at the time there were mixed reports about it just being a threat and finding propane canisters on the tracks.

Article Here

Police forces across the Lower Mainland went on high alert Friday evening as Transit Police hunted the would-be bomber, and swept TransLink’s whole rail system to ensure no more bombs threatened passengers. Three false alarms were triggered throughout the system as staff raised alerts about objects which are not believed to be connected to the real bomb or copycat pranksters.

“There is no doubt that this was a serious device, although somewhat unsophisticated in nature, and was extremely dangerous,” Transit Police spokeswoman Anne Drennan said Saturday.

The bomb was spotted by a passenger on an elevated SkyTrain track Friday afternoon, and later removed and exploded in a safe place by an RCMP bomb squad. This is the first real bomb ever to threaten TransLink infrastructure

What is suspicious is that the device was found between the two stations on an elevated track. There is access through maintenance gates at all stations but they are locked (and I thought alarmed too). There were also reports of packages (non-explosive) found at other stations but they keep describing one of them as a "device" of some sort.

This is the first time i'm hearing about this, why??? lol.

I live in Surrey, someone lit off a 'bomb' in the forest behind my house on Halloween, I went chasing after him with a flashlight into the dark, he was wearing a yellow hoodie.

I call it a bomb because it seriously pissed me off with how loud it was and how close. It shook the house.
I literally just threw my shoes on and went out like Rambo. haha

but it could have been that guy testing it is my instant thought. it WAS a bomb i'm sure, some kind of smaller IED.

should I report that to the investigators or would that be pointless?

Canada is primarily built on terrorists so not too surprised they have started their jihad here. end sarcasm

maybe some kids Halloween bomb that they built, they couldn't find any mail boxes big enough to blow up, so next best thing is a transit system?

reply to post by yourmaker


I didn't know about it until later around 4 or 5 just in time to fire off a text to my mom who was going to be taking the skytrain that evening. Even when I was first hearing reports it was being kind of shrugged off as a prank left over from Halloween.

Yeah, it could have caused damage if the propane cylinders contained any propane. Which they didn't. So it was a small "pipe bomb" - as they call it - strapped to some empty bottles. I guess if the small "pipe bomb" was indeed the only viable thing then it could have perhaps made a big bang and messed up the bodywork a bit.

They are leaning towards it having being heaved onto the tracks from below or the side. Maybe it was pushed along or dropped (awkwardly) from a side window. Maybe it was put on a train at a station and simply dropped off at some point during the route.

Hallowe'en costume discard? Perhaps.
Targeted attack? Doubtful as it contained no propane.
Security test or terrorist practice run? Oh, who knows.

The other "security" events have so far been an abandoned piece of PVC, a paint can, and a woman's purse. Shocking and scary stuff !!

reply to post by tuttlet


This isn't a typical occurrence for Canada.

The area of track they are talking about is at the very least 4-5 stories up. There is a tiny divided platform about a person wide between the trains running east and west for maintenance people. It would've been a remarkable throw from the ground to get the pipe bomb in that exact spot.

I am of the mind that it wasn't thrown and that whoever planted the pipe bomb used the maintenance walkway which should be inaccessible by pranksters or anyone outside Transit.

Third bomb incident in a week now.

Another closure on Monday November 5th at the New Westminster Station for a pipe object that was "found" by a guy on a bike who handed it to a member of the staff. This one was subsequently blown up by water cannon by the bomb disposal unit. As they left behind all the white material that came out of it, it couldn't have been explosive or dangerous.

About the first incident on Friday. From the Globe and Mail:
"Three cylinders were tied together before somehow ending up on the tracks. [spokesman] Ms. Drennan said they might have been thrown from a neighbouring hillside. She said it would have been virtually impossible to drop the device from the train. One of the trains dragging the device to that particular spot also appears unlikely"

Sure, maybe it was thrown. Or dropped/thrown by maintenance staff. Or fell off the bottom or coupling of one of the passing trains. Interesting that they fail to consider all the possibilities.

From the Vancouver Sun
"In a media scrum Monday Justice Minister Shirley Bond said preliminary findings show the bomb may have been related to Halloween shenanigans"

It looks like none of the incidents were in fact of any consequence. I bet I could find 10 objects every single day if I looked up and down the tracks and inside / outside of all the stations. Some might even be plastic pipes, watches, handbags or fire extinguishers. Some might be fireworks, lighters, or propane bottles. Just because they are explosive, doesn't mean they are "Explosives! - placed with intent".

What bugs me most, is the failure to correct the "early reports", and tell the truth of the situation. All the reports in media and social media keep talking about all the bombs, when there AREN'T any.

reply to post by tuttlet


Except for the fact that there was a device detonated in Tsawwassen too. Like I said, doesn't hurt to be cautious. Just because these have all been false alarms doesn't mean one of them won't be a real one in the future. I would prefer to be on the side of caution at this point.

Originally posted by MonkeyFishFrog
reply to post by tuttlet

 

...Like I said, doesn't hurt to be cautious. Just because these have all been false alarms doesn't mean one of them won't be a real one in the future. I would prefer to be on the side of caution at this point.

Meaning that you agree with calling the bomb squad for each and every abandoned handbag, piece of plastic pipe, wristwatch or whatever, that happens to fall in the guideway or is found on the floor in or around any of the stations. Because that's what they are doing right now. We're not talking about phoned-in bomb threats here, just found items.

No common sense, because they have presumably been told zero-tolerance.

How dangerous do they really think things are. The item on Monday was handed to a station attendant at 8pm. They didn't close the station until 10pm, and the bomb squad arrived about 11:30pm. They only called the bomb squad because it was "close" having just dealt with the Tsawwassan incident.

If you agree with zero-tolerance - because "one..(will)...be a real one in the future" then how should they handle the 1000's of abandoned suspicious items they will find every year?

This will pass and they will get back to dealing with garbage sensibly. You can't live your life investigating everything everywhere for the dangers of "terrorism", you've got transit, tunnels, stadiums, airports, sidewalks, whatever. They all are equally likely/unlikely targets. That's why terrorism is terrorism - it can strike anywhere, and minutely reducing the "risk" in one area is meaningless. Plus there has been no reported reason for any terrorism against anything, Skytrain included.

reply to post by tuttlet


I'm not advocating for every single thing to be called in. But I'm not going to be the one turning in any stray items or going near them for that matter.