bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Clifford Lo

Wartime bombs and ammunition was unearthed in a drainage construction site in Cheung Sha Wan yesterday, just a metre away from a trench where 588 second world war bombs and grenades were found three weeks ago.

Yesterday, a mortar shell, a training hand grenade and three rounds of ammunition were found at the bottom of a 3-metre-deep  hole  at the Tonkin Street site, according to police.

'The British Army two-inch mortar shell is live and the three rounds of ammunition are live. The grenade is a training round and has no explosive content,' Cheung Sha Wan divisional commander, Superintendent Keith Dryden, said. He said no controlled explosion was needed because the discovery was safe to move. They had been packed and then removed by bomb disposal officers.

None of the nearby buildings needed to be evacuated.

The cache was uncovered shortly after 2pm by workmen trying to empty water  from the hole,  according to technical secretary Robin Lee Kui-biu  of the Drainage Services Department.

He said yesterday was the first day workers had returned to carry out work after the seizure of the huge cache in a  metre-deep trench  at the same site on April 8.

'There was about 50cm  of muddy water in the hole. As workers tried to pump the water out, they discovered  a muddy object  about 20cm in length. And then they realised it was a bomb,' Mr Lee said.

Workers also found three rounds of ammunition in the hole and brought them to the road before  calling police.

Three bomb disposal officers were called in and the road was reopened at  5.30pm after the area was given the all-clear.

On April 8, 588 bombs were found at the site, of which 400 contained no explosives and were safe. Sixteen unstable high-explosive devices  were detonated at the site. It was one of the biggest single discoveries of its kind in the city.

A British Army camp was built in the area in the 1920s and was later occupied by Japanese troops during the second world war.



Workers uncover second cache of ammunition in Tonkin Street