Tourists stranded by botched ferry bomb training exercise

A badly organised security training exercise in Sydney caused a bomb scare and stranded thousands of commuters and tourists on Friday.

The Australian city saw widespread disruption after ferry crew at Circular Quay found a suspicious package which turned out to be a training mock-up of a real bomb, The Independent reports.

The 'bomb' was brought aboard by a member of staff to train its crew to identify suspicious objects.

But when they failed to recognise it as a training device, the bomb squad was called.

The Circular Quay transport hub, between Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge, was closed for around two hours and services were cancelled.

According to Sky News, Steffen Faurby, chief executive of Harbour City Ferries, said there had been "no intentional hoax".

Last year, security staff at Birmingham Airport were left red-faced after suspecting a passenger was carrying explosives in his hand luggage - and finding it was actually just a haggis.

Ian Blake was stopped as he was passing through the airport on his way from Inverness to see a friend in Dublin.

He had packed the MacSween's of Edinburgh haggis as a gift for his friend, but it was picked up by the security scanner, even though his sgian dubh - the knife worn as part of the traditional Highland dress - was not.

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