Part of Hong Kong’s Wan Chai district closed off as police race to defuse wartime bomb at rail link construction site
Police warn roads around the site at the junction of Hung Hing Road and Tonnochy Road could stay off-limits on Friday and employers should rearrange working hours accordingly
Roads were closed and people were evacuated from the northern part of Wan Chai after a 450kg (1,000lbs) wartime bomb was discovered on Thursday, the third incident at the same site this year.
As police raced to defuse the unexploded device at a construction site for the Sha Tin-Central rail link on Thursday night, they warned that the situation this time was more complicated, and they might need longer than the 24 to 26 hours they took previously.
By 10am on Friday morning, nine roads in the northern part of Wan Chai, including Tonnochy Road, Convention Avenue and Fleming Road, remain closed. Bus routes in the area are also affected.
Star Ferry services between Tsim Sha Tsui and Wan Chai have not resumed since 8pm on Thursday.
Why does Hong Kong have so many buried wartime bombs?
On Thursday, senior bomb disposal officer Tony Chow Shek-kin said the bomb was upside down with its front part buried in the ground.