ISLAMABAD, June 4: The Netherlands embassy in Islamabad and PIA headquarters were evacuated on Tuesday afternoon after receiving a call that a bomb had been planted in the embassy building, the bomb disposal staff and police said.

Both the Dutch embassy and PIA headquarters are located in the same building at Blue Area.

A security guard of the embassy received a telephone call at 3:15pm that a bomb had been placed in the embassy building, police said.

Immediately after the bomb threat call Rescue 15 police and bomb disposal experts were called to the scene. The embassy and PIA headquarters were evacuated, vehicles parked near the building were removed and the traffic was diverted.

The police and bomb disposal experts searched the whole building but did not find any explosive material from the embassy, the bomb experts and police said.

“It was a hoax call,” a bomb disposal expert said.

Farhad Ali, a PIA employ told Dawn that as soon as the bomb threat was received the police reached the embassy and the PIA headquarter was evacuated.

“We had been asked to leave the building without being told why. When the police cordoned off the area and started searching our building, we realized that something was wrong,” another staff member of PIA headquarter said.

After a thorough search of the embassy and PIA headquarter was completed the buildings were declared safe by the bomb disposal experts. The staff members were allowed to go back to their seats. “We are still concerned,” a PIA employ commented.