Solomon Islands bomb disposal
The Solomon Islands is a Pacific island nation.It is to the northeast of Australia. The country has six main islands and over 900 smaller ones.Most are volcanic islands, coral atolls and reefs.Around 300 are inhabited.Guadalcanal is the nation’s largest island.Honiara, the capital city, is on this island.In the 1890, the Solomon Islands became a British protectorate.Its local leaders ruled the islands.Yet, if attacked by another country, the British would protect them.The Solomon Islands become a self-governing country in 1978.The Solomon Island’s population is around 660,000.It has an elected parliament and a prime minister.The British monarch is its head of state.The Solomon Islands has a governor-general.This person is appointed.He or she represents the British monarch.On September 20, there was an explosion in Honiara.Two men died.One was from Britain and the other from Australia.They worked for Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA).This organization has been mapping and helping to dispose of unexploded bombs on Guadalcanal and other islands.The two men were trained to deactivate old bombs .NPA works closely with the local police’s bomb disposal team.There are many unexploded bombs on Guadalcanal.These were left over from the Second World War.The bombs are about 70 years old.From 1942 to 1943, there were several land, sea and air battles on and around the Solomon Islands.They were between Japanese and American forces.Some of the fiercest fighting happened on Guadalcanal.The Second World War began inEurope in 1939.Germany and Japan were allies.At first, Germany was winning the war.It occupied many European countries.What’s more, its soldiers were nearing Moscow, Russia’s capital city.In late 1941, Japan’s leaders expected Germany to defeat Russia.Japan wanted to take over European colonies in Southeast Asia.Yet, they were worried about the U.S.’s navy Pacific fleet.It was based at Pearl Harbor, in Hawaii.At the end of 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.This marked the beginning of the war in the Pacific.At first, Japan was successful.It captured much of Southeast Asia and many Pacific islands such as the Solomon Islands.The Japanese built a military airfield on Guadalcanal.The Americans decided to capture the island.They would then use the airfield for their own military operations.Their attack was successful.Afterwards, Japan’s advance stopped.About 10,000 American troops died during the fighting around the Solomon Islands.Over 80,000 Japanese died.Many ships and aircraft were destroyed.Japan finally surrendered in 1945.This was after the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki.Clearing the unexploded bombs on Guadalcanal has been difficult.Many have become buried under the ground.Specially trained teams find and collect them.They safely detonate or destroy the bombs.The explosion that killed the two men happened at their apartment.It is not known why they took the bombs to their home.The police are now investigating the incident.d