UPDATE: 3:45 P.M. Employees allowed back on site as bomb threat investigation continues
MEG Energy officials are confirming that a bomb threat was made at their drilling site near Conklin earlier today.
UPDATE - RCMP Wood Buffalo 3:30 pm.
At the preliminary stages of the investigation there are no indications that there is any imminent risk to the public, and no evidence exists to suggest the presence of any potentially hazardous devices. Employees are being allowed to return to the site and police remain on scene as the investigation continues.
A written message indicating that there was a bomb set to detonate on the site was located by an employee earlier today.
As a result of this event an undisclosed amount of employees were evacuated from the site by the company.
If you have information about this, or any other investigation(s), please call the Wood Buffalo RCMP at (780) 788-4000, or if you want to remain anonymous, you can contact Crime Stoppers by phone at 1.800.222.8477 (TIPS)
____________________________________________________________
At 11a.m. on Wednesday, July 3, a bomb threat was made at the MEG Energy Corp. plant at Christina Lake. The threat resulted in an evacuation of the plant's personnel and contracted employees.
Located in the southern Athabasca oil sands, this multi-phased SAG-D project is located 150 kilometres north of Lac La Biche.
The POST became aware of the evacuation shortly after 11:30am, when an employee of the plant contacted staff from the newspaper. Reporters immediately contacted RCMP from the Wood Buffalo region for confirmation of the report, but all declined to comment initially.
Three hours later, a MEG Energy official did respond to continued requests for information from the newspaper staff.
Brad Bellows, Director of External Communications for MEG Energy Corp indicated that a bomb threat did occur. He also indicated that staff of plant were safely evacuated from the site, although a number operators were required to stay on-site to ensure equipment continued operating properly.
When asked who made the threat, Bellows indicated that MEG Energy was not at liberty to discuss the matter, as it was currently under investigation by the RCMP. Bellows also stated that RCMP remain on site ensuring there are no explosive devices or threats on the premises.
Staff of MEG Energy are currently at a safe location several kilometers from the plant. They are awaiting an all-clear from RCMP before returning to the site.
More information will be added to this story as it becomes available.
