Mass evacuations were once again ordered in Hong Kong’s Wan Chai area yesterday after a 450-kilogram WWII-era bomb was discovered at a construction site, according to South China Morning Post. This is the second piece of unexploded ordinance to be discovered at the site in less than a week.
Last Saturday, January 27, laborers working on the Sha Tin-Central rail link unearthed a 450-kilogram ANM-65 explosive device 15 meters unground, initiating a large-scale bomb disposal operation that lasted 26 hours and involved the evacuation of roughly 1,300 people.
The bomb unearthed yesterday is near Convention Avenue and Tonnochy Road and was reported to police at 11.15am. It is also an American ANM-65 device and was found a mere 10 meters from Saturday’s explosive discovery.
As of 11pm last night, authorities in Hong Kong had evacuated 4,600 people, according to SCMP.
Alick McWhirter, a bomb disposal officer, is quoted as stating that the ANM-65 found yesterday “is in dangerous condition,” with its fuse mechanism thoroughly damaged. The explosive is also in an awkward position, making it challenging to access with disposal equipment.
Kwong Chi-man, a military historian cited by SCMP, believes the device was dropped on the city by US Navy aircraft during the Japanese occupation period. Hong Kong was surrendered to the forces of Imperial Japan on December 25, 1941 – a day sometimes referred to as ‘Black Christmas’ – and remained under Japanese control until August of 1945.
In January of 1945, over 450 planes from Task Force 38 of the US Navy unleashed 150 metric tons of ordnance on Hong Kong. This bombardment included “13 bombs each weighing 907 kilograms and 72 devices weighing 450 kilograms,” according to Kwong. He adds it’s plausible the bomb exposed Saturday (and likely the bomb discovered yesterday, as well) was a part of that operation.
At the time of publication (11.28pm), the evacuation order was still in effect and police were continuing the operation to defuse the bomb.
[Images via South China Morning Post]
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