No bomb was found at closed schools

Police evacuated all schools in the eastern province of Prince Edward Island after a bomb threat, but authorities say the situation is under control after no explosive device was found.

About 19,000 students at 62 schools were taken to safe locations in their communities around the island on eastern coast on Wednesday. It is the country’s smallest province with a population of about 146,000.

“The minister of public safety informed me that all of the schools’ children and personnel are safe. The situation is under control,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a news conference in Ottawa.

In Prince Edward Island’s capital of Charlottetown, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Sergeant Kevin Bailey said at a press conference he was aware of separate threats in the nearby province of Nova Scotia and the United States.

He said later in a telephone call that police analysts had identified threats against schools in North Carolina, Connecticut and Arizona, but there was no immediate indication that they were linked.

Bailey said the threat against Prince Edward Island schools came by fax to the police in Ottawa. “The message stated that the bombs had been placed in a number of schools and would be detonated today but it did not specify the time,” Bailey said. “There is an active investigation to identify the person or persons responsible.”