Half-Ton WWII Bomb in Hong Kong Finally Defused After Nerve-Racking Day
It took the bomb disposal engineers more than a day to disarm the explosive device, as one of its detonators was damaged and thus any movement of the bomb was extremely dangerous.
A US wartime bomb found at the building site of a new subway line in the Wan Chai area was safely disarmed by Hong Kong's disposal squad on Sunday after 26 hours of work, the South China Morning Post wrote.
The disposal team consisted of over ten professional sappers who were cutting holes in the bomb's shell for several hours in order to neutralize the explosives.
The work had to be done very slowly and carefully to avoid an accidental explosion. If the bomb had exploded, parts of it could have scattered over a distance of up to two kilometers and caused a lot of destruction.
Over 1,300 residents, tourists and office workers were evacuated from the potentially dangerous area on Saturday.
The bomb, which has been identified by experts as an ANM-65 projectile, was reportedly dropped on Hong Kong by an American bomber between 1941 and 1945.
The device was 40 cm long and 45 cm in diameter and contained over 200 kilograms of explosives.
After the squad burnt the explosive material and the disposal operation was over on Sunday afternoon, the empty bombshell was transported to the squad's headquarters for further examination.
- Source : Sputnik
