A 2:30 p.m. ferry headed for Cherry Grove from Sayville on August 8 was delayed when a bomb threat was announced. A week later, the incident is still under investigation, and details are only now emerging.
“A Coast Guard law enforcement team from Station Fire Island and local law enforcement responded to the ferry, safely evacuated all passengers,” wrote U.S. Coast Guard Public Affairs Detachment New York representative Logan Kaczmarek in response to FIN’s inquiry. “[They also] began sweeps on the vessel and the surrounding area for potential explosives. The incident is currently under investigation.”
With the matter still under investigation, Sayville Ferry Service owner Kenny Stein had limited information he could share, but he still had some thoughts on it.
“The days you can yell ‘fire’ in a crowded movie theater are gone,” said Stein. “We live in a different world now. Sayville Ferry Service trains with law enforcement partners for incidents like this. The crew heard an audible threat loud and clear, and they turned the vessel around. Their training is to respond to the safety of passengers, crew, and vessel in that order.”
Photos began surfacing this week, anonymously sent to Fire Island News through one of our correspondents. The image shows a petite woman kneeling in front of Coast Guard officers, with her hands behind her head on the Sayville Ferry Terminal grounds.
Suffolk County Police were supposedly there to help but declined to comment because they were not the main agency handling this incident.
