Pipe Bomb Found Near Philadelphia Train Tracks Sparks Conspiracy Theories

Quoting the Philadelphia Police Department, Frankford Avenue in the Holmesburg neighborhood to the northeast of the city, a bystander reportedly saw a PVC pipe with sealed ends and an unknown black powder.

Just before 1:40 p.m., the 18-inch device was reportedly discovered behind the St. Dominic Catholic Church on Sunday, ET. 

Beyond the church, across a cemetery, a single set of train tracks leads to Holmesburg Junction station.

According to several sources, the police closed off the street while their bomb squad dismantled the alleged device, which was then brought back to their main office for additional inspection. 

Just over two weeks prior, a train derailed close to the Ohio town of East Palestine, igniting a large fire that required officials to breach and burn off five vinyl chloride cars in order to prevent a massive explosion that would have released harmful phosgene gas and hydrogen chloride into the atmosphere.

The Environmental Protection Agency has noted that many harmful compounds have been found in the soil and close-by streams after the leak, but it has emphasized that the airborne levels were considered safe for people to breathe. The National Transportation Safety Board, which is looking into the accident’s cause, has speculated that one of the vehicles’ wheel bearings may have failed.

The pipe bomb was “near” the railroad tracks, according to Rawsalert, a news aggregator on Twitter, which initially stated that it had been discovered on the rails.

Aydogan Vatandas, editor of the Turkish publication Politico, questioned whether other railway derailments in the previous two weeks, including the one in Ohio, might have been related to terrorist activity. On February 13, a train derailed near Splendora, Texas due to a collision with a truck at a crossing.

Another person wrote, “Someone needs to investigate into whether or not if a train hauling deadly chemicals [passed] the area where they found the pipe bomb.”