Cache of wartime grenades, ammunition unearthed at construction site near historic Hong Kong building
- Workers find 20 hand grenades along with some 2,000 rounds of ammunition near the 85-year-old Maryknoll House, a former home to Catholic missionaries
- Explosive ordnance disposal officers detonate the grenades at the scene, and remove the ammunition for further investigation
Twenty wartime hand grenades and 2,000 rounds of ammunition were unearthed at a construction site near a historic Hong Kong housing block for Catholic missionaries on Tuesday, prompting the evacuation of 14 people from the area.
Officers from the explosive ordnance disposal bureau were called to the site on Stanley Village Road shortly before 10.30am after workers discovered the cache near the 85-year-old Maryknoll House.
“The 19 British hand grenades and one Japanese hand grenade – all from the second world war – were found along with around 2,000 rounds of ammunition at the site,” police said in a statement.
According to police, the 20 hand grenades were 15cm in length and 7.6cm in diameter.
Unexploded World War II bomb defused by Hong Kong police
Police said the grenades were safely detonated at the site, while the bullets were taken away for further investigation.
Fourteen people were evacuated as the site was cordoned off for the detonation, and the area was reopened around 2.30pm. No one was injured in the incident.
The three-storey Maryknoll House was previously the headquarters of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, before CSI Properties bought it in 2016 for HK$780 million (US$100.6 million).
Last year, a proposal to convert the historic structure into luxury flats was given the go-ahead by planning authorities.
The Town Planning Board backed the proposal to rezone the use of the block from “government, institution or community”, to “residential development with historic building preserved”.
Developer gets go-ahead to convert historic Maryknoll House into flats
Under the plan, the historic house will be partially demolished and replaced by a low-rise residential complex, although a large portion of the facade, as well as some important historic features, will be preserved.
The site has the highest listed status, at grade one, which means “every effort should be made to preserve it if possible”. However, listed status does not prevent a building from being demolished or changed, as legal protection is only afforded to sites that are classified as monuments.
