Hong Kong bomb squad safely defuse wartime bomb on city landfill site
Shell, believed to have been fired from a US Navy ship, was so thick that it took the bomb disposal team nine hours and three attempts to safely detonate the device
Bomb disposal officers, in an operation that took nine hours, successfully defused a wartime bomb found in a Hong Kong landfill site on Friday.
The object was discovered at the rubbish dump off Wan Po Road in Tseung Kwan O shortly before noon, according to police.
Police described the shell, 23cm in diameter, as being in good condition from the inside, however, due to its ageing, the risk of detonation was described as being high.
The thickness of the shell made the job of making it safe difficult and it took the police three attempts to defuse the bomb.
The projectile was originally fired from a US Navy ship, making it different to the previous explosives uncovered in Wan Chai which were dropped from planes.