Concerned citizen warns public
THE public must at all time stay out from the site when Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) unearths the unexploded ordinance (UXOs).
Speaking to this paper a concern elder who wants his name withheld said he is aware that during the operation to remove the UXOs at Gilbert Camp, East Honiara people gathered close the site to watch what happened.
They have unearthed 101 High Explosive bombs that remain after the World War 2 (WW2) between the Allied Forces and Japan.
“This is very dangerous, couple of time they were reminded to move to a safer distance but some of our people can’t listen,” the elder said.
The concern elder said that these are WW2 munitions the public cannot treat them as some kind of show to watch it.
“Even though the EOD officers were trained to deal with these UXOs the people and public in the surrounding areas must stay out from the site of operation,” the elders told this paper.
Concerning the dangers these UXOs posed for the communities in Honiara and in the outskirts of the main City.
Australian National University military historian John Blaxland as reported in The Sydney Morning Herald stated that the volume of dangerous, degrading munitions is “massive
“As time goes on, as corrosion makes these pieces of ordnance more vulnerable, the challenges relating to their safe disposal grow.
Across the Pacific and elsewhere, people routinely die when they pick up something interesting they find from World War II,” The Sydney Morning Herald reported last year.
Honiara residence still can’t get over the deadly bomb blast that killed two young Solomon Islanders.
It was understood that Opposition Leader Mathew Wale call on the government to review its WWII wrecks law and to step up protection levels against the risks posed by these UXOs.
Meanwhile Solomon Island Government is yet to publicly come out with its stands on how to deal with these deadly UXOs.
By ANDREW FANASIA
