Divers diving in New Taipei City's Maoao Bay were shocked to find unexploded bombs at the bottom of the ocean. The military says there were 13 bombs in total. Luckily, they were all safely detonated this morning.
Thirteen bombs are detonated in Maoao Bay, sending 10-story waves shooting up to the sky. After the bombs were discovered by divers on the 20th, military inspectors confirmed there were 13 bombs sitting on the ocean floor at a depth of 10 to 13 meters, just 100 meters away from a local elementary school. Worried about what could happen if they tried moving the bombs, the military decided to detonate them instead on the 30th.
The military had concerns about safety, so we decided detonating them on site was the safest choice.
The local borough chief says the bombs may date back to the period of Japanese occupation and may have ended up in the ocean when US forces sank a Japanese bomb carrier. The Gongliao District Office met with the Navy, Fisheries Agency and Coast Guard Administration five times to discuss how to proceed and the final consensus was to detonate the bombs. The Fisheries Agency warned fishing boats to stay at least 1,000 meters away from the site while the district office notified residents to make anti-tremor preparations. District officials also went to a temple to pray everything would go smoothly.
At 10:15 a.m. on the 20th, the Navy used 1,300 kilograms of explosives to remotely detonate all 13 bombs from a distance of 600 meters.
We have already done some partial transplantation to minimize the damage to the lowest level possible.
Traffic restrictions have been lifted and the military says it will send a team to the ocean floor to make sure all the bombs are gone.