Hundreds of bombs could still be buried
HUNDREDS of unexploded Second World War bombs are probably still buried across Suffolk according to new research.Particular danger spots for developers drilling into the ground have been highlighted as Lowestoft, where official figures estimate 528 highly explosive devices were dropped and Ipswich (316)It is thought at least 300 of the bombs dropped over the two areas have never exploded.
HUNDREDS of unexploded Second World War bombs are probably still buried across Suffolk according to new research.
Particular danger spots for developers drilling into the ground have been highlighted as Lowestoft, where official figures estimate 528 highly explosive devices were dropped and Ipswich (316)
It is thought at least 300 of the bombs dropped over the two areas have never exploded.
A team of five researchers trawled through Ministry of Defence papers and national and local authority archives, taking more than two years to compile maps for the whole UK.
Mike Sainsbury, managing director for Oxfordshire-based site investigation firm Zetica, which has just finished the painstaking mapping exercise, said it was known that at least ten per cent of the plotted bombs were likely not to have detonated.
He said: “They are only a risk if someone is say, developing a site. Bombs left in the ground will do no more than decompose. It is only when someone starts drilling bore holes that they could detonate.”
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The maps are now available to download off the internet as part of the underground-hazard plotting company's services to contractors.
Mr Sainsbury added the East Anglian coast was an area that they had expected to find a high amount of bombs as the Suffolk and Essex coastline contained some important targets and was an easy area for the Germans to get to.
