A Massive Wartime Bomb is Unearthed Amid Hong Kong’s Densely Packed Highrises

The one-ton bomb was discovered by construction workers and leads to the evacuation of nearly 2,300 people

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Authorities in Hong Kong ordered 2,260 people to temporarily relocate as bomb disposal teams spent the better portion of Friday removing a live World War II bomb from a construction site in the city. A police spokesperson told AFP that the one-ton bomb was the largest such ordnance found in Hong Kong.

Technicians spent 15 hours diffusing the bomb, which was discovered in the affluent Happy Valley district by construction workers at a building site near a Sikh temple, popular hotel and expensive highrises.

Bomb disposal officer Yuen Hon-wing told reporters on Friday that the device took a long time to be made safe because of “technical problems when drilling holes into the bomb and because of the large amount of explosives inside it.”

The U.S. Navy most likely dropped the bomb in 1945 in a raid on Japanese forces who occupied the former British colony during most of the conflict.

[AFP]