Highway 70 Opens After Explosive Spill; Port Reopens Tomorrow

Highway 70 Opens After Explosive Spill; Port Reopens Tomorrow: "Morehead City, NC (WITN) - Life is beginning to return to normal in Morehead City after a hazmat emergency shut down the state port, closed a major highway and produced a voluntary evacuation of downtown.

Just after 5:00 p.m. police reopened Arendell Street, which is also U.S. 70 through the middle of town. Emergency management says the voluntary evacuation for residents and businesses has now been lifted as well.

State ports spokeswoman Karen Fox tells WITN News that the port will reopen Wednesday morning at 8:00 a.m., which is its normal time.

Fire chief Wes Lail says there were nine drums containing the explosive material PETN in one shipping container. Nine 110-pound drums were punctured by a fork lift. Lail said the PETN was in a slurry form, shipped that way for safety reasons.

Lt. Robert Jones with Morehead City police says it's been approximately two years since PETN was brought into the port and that security is heightened anytime the material is brought into the facility.

PETN was the explosive used in the Christmas Day terror plot when a man is accused of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound plane. In 2001 authorities say Richard Reid tried to blow up an airliner by hiding the explosive in his shoe.

Authorities say the first call came in at 4:44 a.m., but it wasn't until after 9:00 a.m. when residents were alerted. The fire chief says they first had to access the situation before making that alert.

'We approach a potential hazmat incident different than we would a car wreck or even a structure fire in that we are very a slow approach. We're not near as aggressive because what we don't know can hurt,' the fire chief told reporters.

Authorities say the PETN came from a foreign ship that was delivering the material. WITN News has learned the 'Lehmann Forester' is a cargo ship out of Antigua and Barbuda. Officials say the ship originated in Spain."