Mock Torpedo Creates Bomb Scare in Kensington
The Philadelphia police department's bomb squad rushed to Kensington this morning to deal with what appeared to be a 20-foot-long torpedo discovered at a railroad construction site.
KYW's Al Novack reports that it was indeed a torpedo, but not a live one.
Police got the call about 9am this morning and responded to the site, near Richmond and Cumberland Streets, not far from the Girard Avenue exit of I-95.
But according to officials, the device had a hole drilled in it and there were no explosives or triggering components inside. They say it may have been intended for display or training.
Investigators were not immediately sure how or why this inoperative torpedo showed up at the site. Some speculated that it may have been hauled out of the nearby Delaware River at some point or had been disposed of by someone who no longer wanted this oversized military souvenir.
KYW's Hadas Kuznits reports that according to Penndot spokesman Charles Metzger, when workers arrived at the site of their archeological dig on Richmond Street near the Delaware River they found the torpedo:
"It's a bomb that shoots out of a submarine."
Police were called, but the torpedo was not operational.
Metzger says police spoke with residents who claimed to see a man digging near the site over the past couple of days. So where could this torpedo have come from?
"The property nearby there was the property of the old Cramp Shipbuilding Company that built submarines in World War II."
(Kuznits:) "How old do you think the torpedo is?"
(Metzger:) "Well, probably about 60, 70 years old if it was built during World War II."
(Kuznits:) "It's not every day that you hear about a torpedo washing up along the Delaware."
(Metzger:) "No, no, it's a very unusual event. There's a number painted on it which could be a 95, and I find it pretty ironic that a torpedo 95 ended up right alongside I-95."
