Bomb hoax causes panic

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A hoax that explosives had been planted in Hatton, a town in central Sri Lanka, last morning, created chaos among the police and the public in the area. As panic spread through the town, there were different accounts about where the bomb had been placed.

Some said it was in a school, others said it was at the bus stand, while another theory was that it was in a shop. The rumours had the police running hither and thither in search of the bomb, while the public ran helter-skelter in fear. Calm returned to Hatton later when people realised that they were victims of a hoax.

Hatton was a centre of a confrontation when striking estate labourers clashed with police which left civilians injured and shops damaged.

In another incident a few weeks ago, a bomb destroyed a disused transformer in Hatton town.