Cairns woman tells of the moment she walked into driveway and saw two pipe bombs

A Cairns woman says she walked “right past” two potentially deadly pipe bombs after she slept through the emergency evacuation of her apartment complex.

Police evacuated the Short Street, Redlynch, complex and declared an emergent situation under the Public Safety Preservation Act (PSPA) about 11.30am today, after the discovery of the two devices.

Nearby streets were also blocked off as officers set up an exclusion zone around the scene.

But resident Saskia Wilson said she woke up after midday and wandered out into the locked down area.

“I got up and walked into my driveway and found two bombs,” Ms Wilson told 9news.com.au.

“I walked past the bombs and took photos of them and then saw police tape and then police came up and said we were meant to have been evacuated at 11.30am.”

Ms Wilson said she must have been asleep at the time of the evacuation, and did not hear any knocking or calling.

Police asked her whether she had seen the bombs before, and suggested they may have been in the complex’s garden since Thursday, Ms Wilson said.

Specialist police have since detonated the devices, and police withdrew the PSPA about 4.45pm.

Ms Wilson said that there are five apartments in the Short Street complex, and described the area as “quiet”.

“The retirement centre’s just down the end of the street, so it’s very quiet,” she said.

Police investigations are ongoing.