HONIARA: Two bomb disposal experts from Britain and Australia died in the Solomon Islands when World War II ordnance they were helping to clear exploded, officials said on Monday.

Police said the pair — who worked for the charity Norwegian People’s Aid — were storing munitions without permission in a residential area of the capital Honiara when the blast occurred on Sunday afternoon.

Norwegian People’s Aid named the pair as Briton Stephen “Luke” Atkinson and Australian Trent Lee, who were helping collate a database of unexploded ordnance in the Solomons, which was a major Pacific battleground in WWII. Police inspector Clifford Tunuki said the explosion took place at the charity’s office and it appeared unauthorised work was being carried out on unexploded ordnance (UXO) in a residential area.

“We do not know what exactly happened that led to the bomb blast but preliminary investigations indicate they had several items of UXO at the residence and they may have been conducting some UXO work,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 22nd, 2020