One-ton unexploded ordnance found at Cape Kyan in Itoman

One-ton unexploded ordnance found at Cape Kyan in Itoman

At around 4:00 p.m. on December 12, workers carrying out a magnetic survey in Kyan in Itoman found a piece of unexploded ordinance weighing around one-ton. It is thought to be U.S. made. (Photograph taken by Takaya Kinra.)


December 13, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo

At about 12:40 p.m. on December 12, workers carrying out a magnetic survey found a one-ton bomb in an uninhabited area of Kyan in Itoman. Experts speculate that the piece of unexploded ordnance found buried about one meter below the ground was a U.S. made bomb. It measures about 60 cm in diameter and is about 180 cm long. The spot is located about 230 meters to the east of the Okinawa Prefectural Fisheries Research and Extension Center, but there are no houses anywhere near the scene. Ground Self-Defense Force Garrison personnel based in Naha stated that there were two fuzes and explosive powder inside the bomb.

The Disaster Prevention and Crisis Management Division of the Okinawa Prefectural Government also commented on the find. They said that this is the first time that a piece of unexploded ordnance in the one-ton class has been found for 23 years, since April 1990. It is also the sixth case since 1972, the year that the U.S. government returned the islands to Japan. The GSDF bomb disposal squad will remove the fuses from the piece of unexploded ordnance and then take it from the field. The date and time that this will happen has not been determined yet.

(English translation by T&CT, Mark Ealey)

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