WW2 bomb found in Iloilo construction site

BY BOY RYAN B. ZABAL

A Second World War general-purpose bomb was unearthed in a construction site in Iloilo City.

PHOTO EOD/K9 PRO-6

The unexploded wartime bomb measured 140 centimeters long was found by construction workers while they were excavating a portion of Megaworld construction site in Barangay Rafael in Mandurriao.

A backhoe operator dug up the more than 70 years old Mk65 wartime bomb at around 5 p.m. of August 22.

Explosive and Ordnance (EOD/K9) of Police Regional Office (PRO-6) led by Senior Inspector Hurdan Bacalangco safely removed the 450-kg (1,000lbs) cylindrical-shaped bomb buried 10 meters into the ground.

The area had been cordoned as a precaution for the construction workers.

Senior Police Officer 4 Vengie Repedro of EOD/K9 said the American bomb was the second wartime device uncovered in the same site.

It won’t be the last as hundreds of WWII bombs may still lie underground and all of these high explosive bombs, if mishandled, may pose threat to lives.

The bombs had been dropped from aircraft during the Japanese occupation between 1941 and 1945.

 “The huge bomb could cause significant damage to homes and buildings within the 200-meter radius with the fragments flying at a distance of 2,000 meters,” Repedro added.