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Denver: Two offices of John McCain's US presidential campaign, in Colorado and New Hampshire, were evacuated on Thursday, and several staffers were hospitalized, after a threatening letter arrived in the mail containing an unidentified white powder.
But within hours, the letter was traced by authorities to a Colorado jail inmate who has a history of sending threatening mail, and initial tests of the envelope and its contents turned up negative for hazardous materials, the US Secret Service said.
The New Hampshire scare over a second envelope there was later deemed to be an unrelated incident brought about by anxiety over the threatening letter received in Colorado.
McCain, 71, a Republican senator from Arizona and his party's presumed nominee for president, was taking the day off from the campaign, spending the day at his home in Sedona, Arizona.
The first parcel, described as containing an unspecified threat and a powdery white substance, was opened by a staff member at the campaign's Centennial, Colorado, office, near Denver, at about 3 pm local time, Secret Service spokesman Malcolm Wiley said.
Four members of McCain's staff admitted themselves to a nearby hospital, and seven other staff members and four emergency personnel were quarantined as a precaution, Wiley said. He added that those in quarantine were likely to be released later in the evening.
None of the four individuals admitted to the Sky Ridge Medical Center near Denver showed any signs of illness, hospital spokesman Linda Watson told Reuters. Nor did any of the 11 quarantined, the Secret Service said.
Watson said the powdery substance was being examined by the Colorado Department of Public Health and results were expected later on.
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