The Associated Press

WASHINGTON, D.C.— A major downtown hotel was evacuated for more than an hour Sunday after a suspicious package was discovered in the basement, but police bomb technicians found nothing dangerous inside it.

The discovery prompted bomb technicians and the FBI terrorism task force to evacuate about 350 guests and employees from at the Mayflower Hotel, which is four blocks north of the White House.

"Someone tried to make this look like a real bomb," said D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department spokesman Alan Etter. Evacuees were kept a short distance from the building.

Bomb technicians from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department disrupted the package with a small explosive charge but found no evidence of anything dangerous inside, Etter said.

"It was found to be a hoax device," Etter said. Bomb technicians and police accompanied by bomb sniffing dogs were checking the entire building as a precaution.