Jamshedpur: The Subarnarekha River that flows through Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha is continuing to throw up deadly surprises in the form of unexplored ordnance from World War II.
On Thursday, yet another 500-pound bomb was found in the river by fishermen at Bahragora in the East Singhbhum district of Jharkhand, close to the state’s boundary with Odisha. This is the third such bomb to be found over the last one month.
The Army, which had safely defused the two earlier bombs, has been informed and the area sealed off.
The bomb was discovered by villagers who had gone fishing in Panipoda. They spotted a large metallic object in the middle of the river. On closer inspection, they suspected it could be an explosive and promptly informed the Baharagora police, as reported by News18.
The police reached the spot and issued an alert, asking people to stay away from the area. While the police’s bomb detection and disposal squad inspected the site, it was decided to leave the job of defusing the bomb to the Army, as the mechanism is complex.
The repeated appearance of such unexploded World War II ordnance in the river has caused concern among locals, who have demanded a proper inspection of the stretch of river.
It is suspected that the bombs came from an United States Army Air Force base that was active in nearby Chakulia. The base was home to B-29 Superfortress aircraft used by the allied forces to bomb Japan, during the World War.
Aircraft from that base may have used the river and nearby areas – which would have been sparsely populated at that time – as a bombing range.
