Explosion on Fox Island created crater, caused loud bang heard by residents, cops say

A loud noise that sparked multiple 911 calls to Suffolk police on Sunday was apparently caused by detonation of a device that left a crater on Fox Island in Babylon, officials said.

Marine Bureau officers located a crater, four feet wide by two feet deep, on Fox Island, off the coast of Babylon, at about 11:40 a.m., Suffolk police said. There were no injuries reported.

"The crater appears to have been created when the device was detonated," a police news release said.

Babylon Town Supervisor Rich Schaffer said Fox Island is uninhabited and frequented mostly by duck hunters. Schaffer said he heard the noise shortly before 11 a.m. at his home, a quarter-mile from the Great South Bay.

"I was in the middle of a conversation with someone. And all of a sudden, we heard the loud bang," he said. "And we both turned to look, I thought the house shook a little bit."

Arson Section detectives are seeking the public’s help to identify and locate the operator of a vessel seen leaving the area at the time of the detonation. The boat is described as having stripes.

Check back for updates on this developing story

By Vera Chinese

vera.chinese@newsday.com,michael.okeeffe@newsday.com@VeraChinese,

Vera Chinese joined Newsday in 2017 after working as an editor for the East End lifestyle publication northforker and a general assignment reporter for the New York Daily News.