Nov 10, 2009 4:54 am US/Pacific
NYPD: Consulate Powder Scare Apparent Hoax
Decontamination Centers Set Up Outside French And Austrian Missions & Uzbekistan Consulate Near United Nations
All 3 Suspicious Letters Recovered, Sent Away For Testing
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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Tents like this one outside the French Mission were set up at two other international addresses in NYC on Nov. 9, after letters containing a suspicious white powder were mailed to the buildings. The FDNY called the staging areas precautionary.
CBS
An investigation is underway Tuesday morning into what may have been an act of terrorism at three separate buildings in Manhattan.
Fire officials say someone sent three envelopes filled with white powder to three foreign consulates. They were all postmarked from Dallas and contained at least one note referencing al Qaeda. But investigators now say initial field tests suggest they're a hoax.
The response, however, was very real. Hazmat units set up red tents and decontaminated a total of 33 consulate employees who came into contact with the envelopes. No one was injured.
The first powder-filled envelope arrived at the Uzbekistan consulate just after 4 p.m. on Monday. The second envelope arrived 40 minutes later at the Austrian consulate. The last envelope arrived at the French mission just a few blocks away, around 6:30 p.m.
Dozens of people were exposed to whatever was in those letters. More than 30 people were brought downstairs and decontaminated in showers set up by the FDNY at the French Mission.
CBS station WCBS-TV in New York spoke to one resident who found out about the incidents during his dinner and said this type of thing goes with living in the same neighborhood as the United Nations.
"When you live in this neighborhood you assume a little bit of risk," Jonathan Jerome said. "Hey, you live in New York you assume a little bit of risk, but living in this neighborhood you know there's the UN around, a lot of embassies, a lot of consulates, missions, so you assume a little bit of risk. Hopefully, they do their job and everything is okay. It was a pretty good response if you ask me."
Everything that took place with the response was completely precautionary. No injuries or transports to local hospitals were reported at any of the three incidents around the UN, the FDNY said.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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