MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. — Officials shut down a busy port and urged people to get out of town Tuesday after a forklift operator accidentally punctured containers of PETN, the highly explosive substance used in a Christmas Day airline-bombing attempt.
Port police knew the shipment of pentaerythritol tetranitrate was coming from overseas and had extra security in place, Morehead City Fire Chief Wes Lail said. He would not say who imported the chemical or where it came from. U.S. Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Mike Hvozda said the ship’s last port of call was in Spain, but he was not sure what city.
No injuries were reported, and officials did not count how many people left. The port remained closed late Tuesday afternoon.
PETN was part of a device authorities say a Nigerian man tried to use to bring down a Detroit-bound Northwest flight on Christmas Day. It is often used in military explosives and found inside blasting caps. It is also the primary ingredient in detonating cords used for industrial explosions.
Morehead City Mayor Jerry Jones said the damage appeared to be an accident and that there were no concerns about terrorism. He said a dock worker punctured the containers as he was unloading them.
Lail said nine containers were damaged and a small amount of PETN leaked out. He described the material as a “slurry,” part liquid and part solid. Hvozda said it was shipped in cardboard drums.
By Tuesday afternoon, the spill had been contained and hazardous-materials teams were cleaning it up and repackaging the broken barrels.
