Father & son die in explosion

A father and his son tonight lost their lives in the latest tragic accident to rock Honiara after a World War II shell detonated at their LDA residence next to Betikama in East Honiara.

The father died on the spot as a result of the blast whilst his youngest son lost his short battle at the National Referral Hospital not long after the blast.

Tonight’s deadly accident happened only five months after a similar bomb blast that killed two people in Honiara.

SBMOnline visited the hospital tonight and we can confirm that the two died as a result of the blast tonight. Police have yet to give details.

But relatives of the Guadalcanal family told SBMOnline night at the hospital that the family were cooking their usual evening meal when the bomb exploded.

The family members placed crabs onto the bed of charcoal and were waiting for them to cook when the bomb exploded.

“The heat from the fire penetrated through the ground causing the bomb to explode,” one of the close family members said.

“I can’t say anymore details but the injuries were too big,” she said.

“The father died on the scene,” another family member said.

The deceased father was from Guadalcanal Plains area whilst the mother is from the Weathercoast. The mum and her elder son are still fighting for survival tonight.

The surviving son has just graduated in form 3 last Friday and was looking forward for his exams.

“Now I don’t know whether he will sit the exams or not. Only God knows,” the relative, says.

Members of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team had been dispatched to the sight tonight to get further details of the bomb. The RSIPF forensic team was also sent to the scene of the accident.

Thousands of items of unexploded ordnance are believed to remain scattered around Honiara, a grim legacy from almost 80 years ago, when US and other Allied troops fought Japanese forces during World War II.

News@SBMOnline2021