Bomb scare: Statue of Liberty evacuated as suspicious package reported

Visitors to the Statue of Liberty were evacuated from Liberty Island in New York Harbor on Friday after a report of a suspicious package, the United States Park Police said.

The evacuation was ordered after a telephone bomb threat, according to CNN and the Wall Street Journal. A spokeswoman for the US Park Police said she could not confirm such a threat, which CNN said was phoned in at about 11:30 a.m.

Ferry service to the island, which has some 4 million visitors a year, was suspended when the security sweep began, said Mike Burke, vice president of Statue Cruises, which operates between island and Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan. "As a precaution, we are currently postponing all service to Liberty Island until the investigation is complete," he said in statement.

Police dogs detected a suspicious scent on a package, the Journal reported, and CNN reported that the suspicious package was inside a locker. The New York Police Department's bomb squad was assisting in the security sweep, a NYPD spokesman said. Video posted on Twitter showed crowds of tourists slowly shuffling onto ferries to be carried off the island, which lies between Manhattan and New Jersey near the mouth of the Hudson River.

Some photos on Twitter showed police walking on the island with a bomb-sniffing dog, and a Twitter feed by the local New York police precinct said all civilians were off the island, leaving only emergency personnel. The Statue of Liberty, one of the New York area's most popular tourist destinations, was closed for nearly eight months due to damage to the island by Superstorm Sandy in 2012.