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Journalists take notes at Holiday Inn Harare after guests and staff at the hotel were evacuated for more than half a day, after a bomb scare yesterday. — (Picture by Tawanda Mudimu)

Herald Reporter
HOLIDAY INN Harare evacuated all its guests yesterday after a receptionist received an anonymous call claiming a bomb had been planted in one of the hotel rooms. A team from the police bomb disposal unit was called to inspect the rooms. By time of going to print the hotel was still sealed off. Police national spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba confirmed the incident saying investigations were underway.

“We have received the report,” she said. “That is all I know now and police are still doing investigations.” A legislator booked at the hotel said he immediately checked out after the bomb scare. “I checked in here in the morning and left for some business in town,” he said.

“When I came back everyone was outside and we were not allowed to get in. We were then told that one of the receptionists received a phone call insinuating that there was a bomb planted in one of the rooms,” he said. Another man, only identified as David, said he had been booked at the hotel for 10 days and expressed disappointment over what happened.

“It is so frustrating. We had to get our lunch at Zim Café just around the corner and we are extremely worried.” An employee said it was still not clear what really transpired. “We do not really know what happened but it is an emergency and under such circumstances we had to stop our normal business.

“The business has already gone down as you can see some guests now prefer other hotels. The message is circulating on WhatsApp and that is damaging our image. People should wait and hear from the authorities what really caused the alarm.”