Suspicious Powder Found at Haymarket

Update: Per an announcement from the MBTA, the substance found on the bus was "common chalk." The bus operator has been released from the hospital.

This morning, a hazmat team was called into the Haymarket T stop when a Route 111 bus driver noticed a strange powder on the dashboard of her bus at about 9:15. Traffic ugliness ensued, but things should be cleared up now.

The Herald reached Joe Pesaturo, who had word on the condition of the driver: "Pesaturo said the 52-year-old bus driver was coughing and said she felt ill when she reported the incident at 9:16 a.m." She was taken to Mass General. The Globe reported that she also had eye irritation and light-headedness.

No one responds to a potential threat quite like Boston, and it appears that the authorities left no stone unturned. But add this to a bomb threat at Boston Latin, and people are going to feel edgy, even if it is opening day.

[WBZ, Boston Herald, Boston Globe]

Image of Haymarket station by the eagle-eyed AntyDiluvian from photos tagged "Bostonist" on Flickr.