by Georgina Maka’a
Police say they removed a 226kg World War II bomb from the proposed Taro township relocation site in Choiseul Province recently.
The Explosive Ordnance Disposal Department (EODD) of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) carried out the dangerous task.
EODD Supervising Director Staff Sergeant Peter Ririvere said the bomb has been taken away to a safe location and is awaiting detonation.
“This is the third bomb of similar size that has been found on the same location this year,” Ririvere said.
The exercise was part of the preparatory work to relocate Taro, the provincial capital of Choiseul, to the mainland. The existing station is located on Taro, an island rapidly losing its coastlines due to climate change.
Ririvere said his team has also spent days in the Western Province removing over 200 bombs from different sites around Munda.
“These have all been moved to a safer location and will be disposed of in a further operation,” he said.
Solomon Islands remains one of the most heavily contaminated countries in the Pacific when it comes to unexploded ordnance (UXOs).
The country was the scene of intense fighting between American and Japanese forces during WWII, especially in Guadalcanal, Western Province, parts of Malaita and Choiseul.
Thousands of bombs, artillery shells and naval munitions were dropped or fired, and many failed to explode.
More than 80 years later, these rusting remnants continue to endanger communities.
Farmers, construction workers, fishermen and even children regularly encounter UXOs buried in gardens, mangroves, riverbeds and former battlefield sites.
Over the decades, dozens of Solomon Islanders have died or been seriously injured after accidentally disturbing wartime ordnance. As communities expand into previously unused land, the danger is only growing.
Several international partners — including Australia, the United States, Japan and New Zealand — have supported UXO clearance over the years.
But the scale of contamination remains vast, and discoveries like the latest 226kg bomb in Choiseul show how deeply embedded these explosives still are.