The blast that shook the ground near the finish line of the 2016 Rio Olympics road cycling event was caused by a controlled explosion
With about 70 km remaining in the 2016 Rio Olympics men’s road cycling event, spectators and members of the press standing near the finish line felt the ground rumble beneath them from a blast near the area. With bomb scares leading up to the Games, there was concern about what it could have been. As it turns out, the bomb squad had already been called in and the blast was from them.
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According to an updated report from the Associated Press, the Brazilian military patrolling the area came across an unattended bag near the cycling finish line. They then conducted a controlled explosion of the bag, which was the blast felt by people in the area.
As reported previously, no one was injured as a result of the controlled explosion and the men’s road cycling event was unaffected as they continued as normal without even rerouting from the scheduled finish line.
There’s no doubt that security in Rio is on high alert with the way that tensions were rising around the city leading up to the 2016 Olympics. However, to see that the military and the bomb squad were so quick to act on this event with the unattended bag, there has to be a little more comfort than before.
Let’s hope still that this is the last incident of the sort that we see throughout the rest of the Games in Rio.