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Fishermen find an unexploded rocket off Ilan

The military has been trying to clean up unexploded bombs lying at the bottom of the sea off Ilan after the Sept. 4 Hankuang No. 19 live-fire exercise, but the task was suspended temporarily after fishermen found a rocket there on Saturday.

The military was shocked to discover that the fishermen had disassembled the rocket without any help. The army, which is in charge of the clean-up work, said the fishermen could have been killed or seriously injured.

The recovery of unexploded bombs has is now on hold because the army fears civilians who are hired to assist with the clean-up work might make the same mistake.

Before Saturday's incident the army had tried to find bombs on the seabed close to the shore by using fishing nets, but without much success. It did not say whether the fishermen who found and disassembled the rocket were among the civilians it had hired to help with the bomb disposal.

The army has asked the navy's specialized underwater demolition team to help with the disposal operation.

But the underwater demolition team might not be able to meet the army's expectations, a navy official said.

The team specializes in defu-sing mines, rather than unexploded bombs, and it might be futile to expect too much from them, the official said.

Erich Shih (施孝瑋), a senior editor of Defence International magazine, said the navy is telling the truth, since the underwater demolition team is not what many people think it is.

"The unit is basically an offensive force. Its mission is to place mines on enemy sea routes. It is not trained to handle unexploded bombs," Shih said.

The military could give no timeframe yesterday for the completion of the operation.

Two years ago, when the domestically built RT-2000 multiple rocket launcher was tested for the first time in the Hankuang No. 17 exercise in Pingtung, some unexploded rockets also went into the sea.

One of these rockets exploded and caused injuries when fishermen dragged it from the seabed.
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