It took Hong Kong's explosive disposal unit 24 hours to defuse a World War II-era bomb discovered in a "dangerous condition" at a construction site in the busy Wan Chai district.
According to police, the whole neighbourhood of Wan Chai was put on lockdown and about 4,000 people were evacuated on Thursday after a second wartime bomb in a week was found at a construction site.
The bomb disposal operation turned out to be difficult and dangerous, as the team "couldn't even see" a fuse mechanism, according to officer Alick McWhirter. In addition, it was raining during the defusement process.
The 450-kilogram (992-pound) bomb is already the second found in Hong Kong this week. On Sunday, a US wartime bomb was discovered at the building site of a new subway line in the Wan Chai area and safely disarmed by Hong Kong's disposal squad.
Unexploded war-era bombs are often found during construction works in Hong Kong, which witnessed fierce fights between Japanese and British allied forces in 1941.
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