When a bomb went off in Hong Kong’s Ocean Terminal shopping centre, in the worst such incident since the 1967 riots
- A home-made bomb left in a waste bin exploded in Tsim Sha Tsui’s Ocean Terminal on a Saturday afternoon in 1981, injuring 23 people, five seriously
- Police issued identikit images of two suspects, but could find no motive, and no one was ever arrested for the incident
“A bomb blast ripped through a crowded Ocean Terminal yesterday bringing screams of terror from Saturday afternoon shoppers and leaving 23 of them injured, five seriously,” reported the South China Morning Post on February 22, 1981.
“The blast claimed more injury victims than any bomb to hit Hongkong since 1967,” the report continued. The blast was “caused by a home-made bomb placed in a litter bin” and “was the second bomb incident in the last 22 days at Ocean Terminal”.
“Miss Au Wai-ling (20), her ankles bandaged and her voice still shaking with fear, said she was window-shopping in the building after tea with friends.
She was about four feet (1.2 metres) from where the bomb went off. ‘I started crying. I was so scared. My feet felt painful. I looked down and saw them covered with blood,’ Miss Au recalled.”
On March 7, the Post reported that “police yesterday issued the identikits of two men suspected to be connected with the February bomb explosion at the Ocean Terminal […] The two suspects had been seen placing a plastic bag in a litter bin at the Tai Shan Gallery where the explosion occurred shortly afterwards”.