Hong Kong bomb disposal team detonates World War II grenades found near hiking hotspot

Bomb disposal experts detonated five grenades thought to date from World War II after a military enthusiast found the explosives near a hiking trail in Hong Kong on Friday.

The 27-year-old metal detectorist was combing an area of the Twins around Wilson Trail section one in southern Hong Kong Island when he came across the weapons at about 11.40am.

Historians believe four of the grenades were Japanese, while another was made by the British army, and that they relate to the Battle of Hong Kong in 1941.

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The man, a hobbyist who scoured Hong Kong’s battle sites for relics, called police, who cordoned off an area measuring 20 by 30 metres, barring access to a hiking trail.

Bomb experts from the force retrieved the five wartime hand grenades from the ground, each 10cm in length and 5cm wide.

They were later destroyed by the officers in a controlled explosion. No evacuation was needed.

Stanley Peninsula, which is south of the tough hiking area known as the Twins, was a stronghold of the Hong Kong garrison – made up of British, Indian and Canadian units – during the defence against the 1941 invasion.

Hong Kong fell to the Japanese in December 1941, before the British regained control less than four years later.

War relics have occasionally been unearthed by enthusiasts or hikers in the area and around Hong Kong Island.

On October 30, a wartime British grenade was found on Aberdeen Reservoir Road.

Another Japanese grenade was spotted on Hong Kong Trail section four, inside Aberdeen Country Park on August 7.