Hong Kong police launch air-land-sea lockdown for underwater mine removal after discovery of wartime device with over 220kg of explosives
- Police will carry out operation in waters off Cape D’Aguilar between 11am and 2pm on Friday, with bomb disposal squad and elite Flying Tigers called in
- No immediate threat to area, but authorities warn if explosion is triggered, it will affect a radius of 1km from the epicentre
Hong Kong police have launched an air-land-sea lockdown in the southeastern part of the city in preparation for an underwater operation to destroy a wartime naval mine filled with more than 220kg (485 pounds) of high explosive.
Acting senior superintendent Suryanto Chin-chiu of the force’s explosive ordnance disposal bureau on Thursday said it was the first time a intact British-made mine had been found off Hong Kong Island in three decades.
Divers from the force’s elite squad, known as the Flying Tigers, and bomb-disposal officers were deployed to find the mine after it was spotted by a diver on the seabed off Cape D’Aguilar on August 8.
Police will carry out an operation to dispose of the mine between 11am and 2pm on Friday.
According to the force, the mine was found at a depth of 15 metres (49 feet), 1.5km (0.9 miles) northeast of Cape D’Aguilar.
Suryanto said he believed the device had been laid by the British Royal Navy during the second world war, and had remained there for more than 70 years.
“Shells have been grown on its surface, which also has signs of seawater erosion,” he said.
He warned that although the mine had been on the seabed for decades, its explosive content could still detonate.