An unexploded bomb believed to have been dropped by a US warplane during World War II was removed from a construction site in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義) yesterday, authorities said.
Chang Kuo-liang (張國良), an officer from the military explosives disposal unit, said the 227kg bomb was moved to a warehouse so that experts could verify its origin.
“It looks like no immediate danger. We will dispose of it using standard procedures,” said Major General Chien Shih-wei, a director of the Sixth Army Command.
It was found about 8:30am, 8m below ground during construction excavations at the site of the former Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 2. The hall has been torn down to make way for a new development by Nan Shan Life Insurance Co, which in 2012 leased rights to the city-owned land for 50 years for NT$26.8 billion (then US$894 million).
Military units, fire department personnel and police set up a cordon as the explosives disposal unit worked to secure and remove the bomb.
The last time a World War II-era US bomb was found in Taipei was in August 2006, when a 227kg bomb was dug up at a Mass Rapid Transit system construction site near Taipei Songshan Airport.
During World War II, several areas in then-Japanese-ruled Taiwan came under attack from US bombers.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
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