Hundreds of tourists were forced to evacuate the iconic Eiffel Tower after an anonymous phone call at 2PM (GMT 1200) triggered the scare.
Paris police immediately deployed bomb squad to search the entire area while assisting local and international visitors to leave the tower using emergency lifts and 700-step stairs. Tourists from the nearby Jules Verne restaurant were also advised to evacuate. Around 1,400 spectators were removed from the perimeter area, and security guards were also temporarily dismissed from duty. Bomb personnel declared the area cleared and concluded to be a false attack. Eiffel Tower was reopened to public after two hours of security check. No further details were provided by police officials.
Standing at 324 meters high, the Eiffel Tower was built in 1889 and is visited by approximately seven million each year or 30,000 tourists a day during busy season making it the most visited national site in the world. Paris' main landmark has always been subjected to false bomb scares that allows for a number of evacuations each year. A similar threat was made on March after an anonymous phone call suggested an attack.
France is one of the Western countries included in the US State Department's global travel warning issue that prompted last week's closure of several embassies for a non-specified security threat. French government began its high security alert after its military took over French interests in Mali, a North African territory of Al Qaeda. Early this week, a total of 19 diplomatic posts from 16 countries were closed in Yemen after US national security alerted an intercepted intelligence from Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri.
Operations from Eiffel Tower are now back to normal although security alert is still ongoing given several instances of bomb scare each year.
© 2017 Jobs & Hire All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
