The World Trade Center PATH Station in New York City was closed by a bomb scare on Sunday afternoon, but an evacuation scramble at the heart of where 9/11 all started proved to be a false alarm caused by an unattended backpack left behind on a subway train.
Bomb-sniffing dogs got a hit on an unattended backpack left behind on a train from Hoboken, New Jersey just before 3 p.m. and authorities evacuated hundreds from the station adjacent to the Oculus building in lower Manhattan, according to the New York Daily News.
The backpack turned out to be filled with clothing and vitamins, said authorities.
The entire Oculus building was shut down and cleared out while Port Authority police investigated, reported WCBS-TV. Police and National Guard troops guarded the entrances, leaving people on the street.
The evacuation caused some scary moments for those at the World Trade Center before the station was opened again at 5 p.m.
"Military guys came in and said that we had to evacuate, so they were about a few other customers in the store and that I had to just lock up and make sure everything was secure, and pretty much every other store, I do the same thing," said Matthew Saunds.
Yolanda Golding, who lives in London, told WCBS-TV that she was trying to get into the 9/11 Museum when the station was shut down.
"We have to be very careful nowadays," Golding said. "It's a scary world, so it could be nothing, or it could be something dangerous. So yeah, you have to take precautions."
Some went to social media during the evacuation.
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