Comments
An unexploded World War II shell that was discovered just metres from a busy rail track halted high-speed trains in Japan today, as bomb disposal experts moved in to detonate it.
The travel plans of around 90,000 people were disrupted when an exclusion zone was thrown up around the shell, which was discovered in the north of Tokyo earlier this year.
A squad from the country’s Ground Self-Defense Force piled sandbags on top of the shell before detonating it around noon.
About 150 train services, including 53 Shinkansen bullet-train services, were affected, a spokesman for East Japan Railway said ahead of the operation, adding 90,000 people would be affected.
The 40-centimetre shell, believed to have belonged to Japan’s imperial forces, was discovered during excavation work.
Despite massive redevelopment in the nearly 70 years since WWII, finds of unexploded ordinance are not uncommon in and around Japan’s cities, which were heavily bombed by US forces.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.