Australian Navy Divers Help Clear Solomons Bombs

(Australian Navy)

 

Over 400 explosive projectiles and bombs left over from World War Two have been disposed of by a combined team of Royal Australian Navy divers and an Explosive Ordnance Disposal element of the Solomon Islands Police Force.

 

Over the past three weeks, divers from Australian Clearance Diving Team Four (AUSCDT4) have been training Solomon Islands Police Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians in the underwater methods used to dispose of unexploded ordnance found in the area. 

 

Their efforts have been noteworthy in safely removing a variety of dangerous ordnance. The largest item destroyed was a 45 kilogram bomb that had been exposed on a local road near a village in the Western Province. Other items disposed by the team have ranged from discarded gas cylinders to white-phosphorous mortar rounds left over from World War Two.

Members of the Royal Australian Navy Australian Clearance Diving Team Four and Solomon Island Police Force Explosive Ordnance Disposal technicians. PHOTO: Australian Defence Department

 

The training and disposal was conducted as part of the Defence Cooperation Program between Australia and the Solomon Islands. 

 

Five members of the Solomon Islands Police Force received diving training from AUSCDT4 which included a variety of skills and techniques used in underwater explosive disposal.