27 Oct 2009

Australian navy removes WWII explosives in Solomons

1:15 pm on 27 October 2009

The Australian navy has rid Solomon Islands of a large quantity of explosive ordnance left over from the Second World War.

Mine hunters pinpointed 15 explosive objects on the seabed off the island of Malaita and in Shortland Harbour, off Shortland Island.

Navy clearance divers then located and disposed of the ordnance, which ranged from artillery shells through to a large British sea mine.

This was the latest deployment in Operation Render Safe to help Pacific countries remove explosive remnants from some of the bloodiest battles of the war.

The Australian Defence Force has previously been involved with explosive ordnance disposal in countries such as the Marshall Islands and Kiribati, but this is the first continuing operation of its type.