Vera Tse | August 30, 2021
(The photo is from Xinhua Net, taken by Li Peng)
On February 6, an unexploded bomb that is believed to be left by the US army during World War II was found at a hotel construction site in WanChai, prompting an evacuation of more than 2,000 people nearby, local media reported.
The bomb was found by a construction worker at about 3 P.M. at the site located in No. 373, Queen’s Road East, WanChai, Hong Kong. Police, firefighters and medical staff came to the site soon and blocked the area. People within 200 meters of the site including about 1,000 hotels’ residents were told to evacuate and didn’t get to go back to their hotels until 10.P.M..
According to the senior bomb disposal officer – YUEN Hong Wing, the bomb is the giant US Navy ANM66 bomb – 67 inches (1.7018 meters) in length, 24 inches (0.6096 meters) in diameter and about 2,000 pounds in weight. The detonator and about 1000-pound TNT inside the bomb were still active. The bomb disposal officers on site dared not take any risks to remove the bomb in case the detonator was triggered. Mr. YUEN said the bomb could cause serious damage to buildings within 20 meters in diameter, even collapse. The police used Abrasive Waterjet to take the device apart first and then extracted the TNT. At about 8:20 A.M. on February 7, the bomb was defused successfully.
The bomb is suspected to be thrown by the US army to fight the Japanese invasion of China in World War II era. It might have landed on soft ground so that it failed to detonate.
References:
More than 2,000 evacuated as wartime bomb unearthed in Happy Valley