BERA: Felda Triang 1 settlers near here will temporarily vacate their homes for several hours on Friday for operations by the authorities to detonate two World War 2 bombs.
District police chief Deputy Superintendent Mansor Samsudin said 123 families living in the vicinity would be moved to a nearby school building located about 1km from the site where the old bombs were discovered.
"To avoid any untoward incidents and damages, the settlers will be ordered to vacate their homes some two hours before the operation. The damage radius of both the explosives is about 500m so the settlers will be taken to a premises located some 1km away.
"The Felda manager has informed the affected settlers living about 100m from the site about the evacuation and gathered the details of all families involved. The controlled detonation will be only carried out once the area is completely safe," he said today.
Mansor said the unexploded bombs were separately discovered by settlers on Aug 2 and 3 respectively at two nearby locations at Felda Triang 1.
"The first bomb was discovered about 3.30pm on Aug 2 by a settler who was clearing the land at the back of his house. The police were immediately deployed to the scene to check and defuse the old bomb.
"Yesterday, another settler alerted policemen about the second bomb which he discovered in an oil palm plantation about 3.15pm. Policemen had cordoned off both the areas and deployed a bomb disposal unit to the scene to assess the situation," he said.
Mansor said investigations revealed the first bomb was an aerial bomb weighing 226kg while the second one was a artillery shell measuring 24cm long.
"It will be too dangerous to remove the bombs and they can only be destroyed where they were found. Since the area is surrounded by settlers' homes located within 100m radius, police have decided to temporarily relocate them to avoid any damages or injuries.
"The Bukit Aman bomb disposal squad will assist in the operations on Aug 6. Currently, we are building sandbag bunkers to provide protection and prevent the splinters from flying into the air," he said.