Residents in the West Java capital of Bandung were shell-shocked by the discovery of at least 90 mortars, approximately 80-mm in caliber, buried under a residential property in the downtown Dago area of Coblong district.
The explosives were first discovered when the homeowner, Kevin Purnama, was building a garage for his home. When Kevin dug into the earth to lay down the foundation, he found an oval-shaped mortar.
“He found one mortar after only having dug half a meter deep, then he reported his discovery to us,” Coblong Police Chief Auliya Dhjabar told Detik today.
The West Java Police’s bomb disposal unit then conducted a bomb sweep throughout the house. With the help of the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI), they recovered 88 mortars as of 10:30 pm yesterday.
This morning, more sweeps was conducted by the military, which found two more mortars, bringing the total to 90 so far. The military says it predicts that there are still more mortars to be unearthed below the house.
“Visually, there should be more mortars under the ground because of the military-standard munition for the area of sterilization. We predict there are more mortars under the ground, but we can’t predict the exact number,” district military commander Colonel Hery Subagyo told Detik today.
Hery said the mortars are thought to be relics of World War II, judging from the rusty and fragile condition of the antique armaments and their shape, which is similar to mortars previously found in other areas. He said the mortars, when primed, have quite a lethal explosive power with a blast radius of 20-30 meters.
As of this afternoon, 88 of the mortars have reportedly been seized by TNI members for analysis in order to find out their year of manufacture and whether they’re still active or not.
Bandung Vice Mayor Yana Mulyana, who went down to the mortar discovery site, urged Bandung residents to be more vigilant because similar discoveries could be unearthed in the historic city.
“This could be a warning to us, I mean because we live in what used to be Dutch colonial territory, there were battles in the city. I ask our residents to be more vigilant especially when it comes to building development. But maybe [the discovery of the mortars] was just a coincidence,” Yana said to the reporters today, as quoted by Detik.
The mortars discovery site is heavily guarded by officers and residents are strictly prohibited from approaching the location.
