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Fiona Sun

Jess Ma

A suspected wartime bomb found at a construction site at Hong Kong airport on Saturday morning was detonated after about four hours, with police evacuating 900 people from the area.
Police said that officers were alerted by a construction worker at 11.58am that the suspected bomb, measuring 30cm by 7cm (11.8 by 2.8 inches), had been discovered.
A police spokesman said that 900 people had been evacuated from the site as of 3.56pm.
The Post learned that officers from the explosive ordnance disposal bureau detonated the bomb at 4.20pm, with the site reopening at 4.35pm.
A source said the bomb was a British-made three-inch mortar round.
Bomb disposal officers had to detonate the round on site due to its poor condition, with the explosives inside found to be unstable, the source added.
“Any further movement would have created unnecessary danger to anybody and anything around it,” the source said.


The bureau’s officers handled the mortar round differently than a much bigger 454kg (1,000lb) wartime United States bomb uncovered at a Quarry Bay construction site in September.
It was impossible to detonate the US air raid bomb to dispose of it as its explosive powers were “practically intact”, senior bomb disposal officer Raymond Suryanto Chin-chiu said at the time.
Officers had to cut a hole in the bomb’s casing at the site on Pan Hoi Street to incinerate the explosives inside. An explosion would have caused widespread damage in the densely populated neighbourhood.
In Saturday’s incident, the Airport Authority said workers had discovered a suspicious object near the Terminal 2 concourse construction site at about 10am and reported it to police.

Construction workers discovered the mortar round about one metre below ground, the Post learned.
Following instructions from police, the area surrounding the object was closed off for further investigation, the authority said.
It also said that airport operations were unaffected by the incident.
Small explosives such as wartime mortar rounds and grenades have been discovered over the years.
In 2021, a military enthusiast found four grenades and a mortar from World War II on a slope close to the Wilson Trail in Tai Tam Country Park near Stanley on Hong Kong Island.


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Hong Kong society

900 evacuated as police detonate suspected wartime bomb at Hong Kong airport

Bomb disposal officers detonated the mortar round in the afternoon. Photo: Handout

Hong Kong International Airport. Photo: Nora Tam

How Hong Kong’s bomb disposal officers handle deadly risks of job

A member of police’s explosive ordnance disposal bureau wearing the protective gear used by officers during bomb disposal operations. Photo: May Tse

Raymond Suryanto, head of the explosive ordnance disposal bureau, kneels beside the empty shell casing of a 1000lb wartime bomb discovered on September 19, in Quarry Bay. Photo: May Tse

Empty shell casings of bombs at the bureau’s headquarters on Mount Butler Road. One historian estimates there are dozens of unexploded bombs in the waters near Hung Hom, Wan Chai and Taikoo. Photo: May Tse

Officers with the remnants of a bomb found at a site in Quarry Bay in September. Photo: Karma Lo

WWII bomb in Hong Kong’s Quarry Bay linked to US military air strike: experts

A bomb was discovered at a construction site on Pan Hoi Street in Quarry Bay. Photo: Karma Lo

The remains of the bomb at the Pan Hoi Street construction site in Quarry Bay after the disposal operation. Photo: Karma Lo

WWII bomb in Hong Kong’s Quarry Bay successfully disposed of after 9-hour effort

Officers from the explosive ordnance disposal bureau stand beside the shell casing on Pan Hoi street in Quarry Bay. Photo: Karma Lo

Road closures and MTR disruptions continued while efforts to clear the bomb continued in Quarry Bay. Photo: Karma Lo

Smoke emits from the construction site on Pan Hoi Street where the bomb disposal operation continued. Photo: Karma Lo

News

Hong Kong

Society

Officers from explosive ordnance disposal bureau deal with bomb about four hours after its discovery by construction workers


Officers from explosive ordnance disposal bureau deal with bomb about four hours after its discovery by construction workers.


Hong Kong police

China

Airport Authority Hong Kong