Hong Kong’s female bomb disposal officers on keeping your nerve, blazing a trail, and breaking the glass ceiling

The police force’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bureau has four women – the highest number to date – and their presence required a period of adjustment for the team, the women say

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Bomb disposal officers Suzette Foo Yat-ting (left) and Nicole Kwong Ling-fung at the depot in Tai Tam. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 8:02am, 8 Jul 2018Updated: 11:38am, 8 Jul 2018

When Nicole Kwong Ling-fung entered a Wan Chai construction site in May, where a 450kg bomb was to be defused, she soon found herself up to the waist in dirt.

“I didn’t know if it was going to suddenly explode,” said Kwong, an operator with the Hong Kong police force’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bureau. “It had been weathered underground for so long that it had become extremely unstable.”

Kwong, 35, quickly sank into the soft, wet mud as she took part in the delicate operation over 20 hours. The wartime bomb was the third in recent years discovered at the construction site for the Sha Tin-Central link, a HK$97.1 billion (US$12 billion) railway project.

Bomb disposal officers mount an anti-terrorism drill last year at Hong Kong Stadium in So Kon Po. Photo: Felix Wong

Kwong joined the bureau seven years ago and now specialises in handling improvised explosive devices.

She is one of four women working part-time at the unit – the highest number of female officers to date.