Bomb Disposal Experts Get To Work In Wan Chai

Police bomb disposal experts have started defusing a war-time bomb found in North Wan Chai, sources said on Friday morning.

Officers were said to have finished cutting a hole in the bomb and had started burning off the explosives to make the device safe.

The one-thousand-pound explosive was found on Thursday afternoon at a construction site for the MTR's Shatin-to-Central link – the third device of its kind unveiled at the same site this year.

Officers said they expect they will need more time than in previous operations to neutralise this device because it is embedded in the soil vertically. The police took over 20 hours in both of the cases in January.

Major roads and flyovers in north Wan Chai have been cordoned off as a safety precaution since Thursday evening. They include Convention Avenue, Tonnochy Road, Hung Hing Road, Marsh Road, Fleming Road and Harbour Road.

Ferry services from Wan Chai to Tsim Sha Tsui have also been suspended.

Authorities are urging drivers to steer well clear of the area because traffic will likely be very congested throughout Wan Chai, Causeway Bay, and even as far away as Central.

The bomb – together with the other two found at the site in January – is believed to have been dropped by American warplanes during the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong between 1941 and 1945.