By Jeff Aydelette

MOREHEAD CITY -- Drum containers holding a dangerous explosive were accidentally punctured Tuesday morning, prompting a partial evacuation of this sprawling state port. The massive complex straddles a heavily traveled section of Highway 70, which emergency management officials immediately closed to all vehicular traffic.
Officials stressed that the incident was not related to terrorist activity.
The substance, pentaerythritol tetranitrate, commonly known as PETN apparently leaked onto the docks of the state port. Authorities have not yet explained how the accident happened or whether any injuries occurred.
The location, on the Newport River near Beaufort Inlet and the Atlantic Ocean, is one of the state’s two deepwater exit and entry points. The area, though vast, abuts the towns of Beaufort and Morehead City, the two biggest municipalities in Carteret County, which has a year-round population of 65,000 people.
The Morehead City port receives armaments and munitions from several of eastern North Carolina’s military bases where the cargo is loaded onto ocean-going vessels bound for overseas destinations.
PETN is an explosive with high brisance, a term used to describe the rapidity with which an explosive develops its maximum force. It is rarely used alone. Rather it is often combined as a ‘bursting charge’ of small caliber ammunition, and in some land mines and artillery shells.
The substance recently made headlines elsewhere in this county, as the explosive carried by the “Christmas Day” bomber on board a Northwest Airlines, who was thwarted in his attempt to detonate a homemade bomb prior to landing in Detroit.