A 250-kg World War II bomb was found at the construction site for Changi Airport’s new Terminal 5 in Singapore on March 31 and safely detonated two days later without disrupting flights.
The Singapore Police Force (SPF) said officers were alerted to the war relic at 4:55 a.m. on March 31 while construction work was underway along Tanah Merah Coast Road, within the Changi East development zone where Terminal 5 is being built, Mothership reported.
The Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) Explosive Ordnance Disposal team assessed the aerial bomb and determined it was too dangerous to move.
The SAF’s Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Explosives Defense Group carried out a controlled detonation between 2:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. on April 2, the Ministry of Defense said.
Compacted sandbags and reinforced concrete barriers were built around the bomb to contain the blast and fragmentation.
The 250-kg World War II aerial bomb found at a construction site along Tanah Merah Coast Road in Singapore on March 31, 2026. Photo courtesy of the Singapore Police Force |
Changi Airport Group (CAG) confirmed the operation was completed with no impact on flights or airport operations. Infrastructure and systems nearby were inspected afterward and no damage was found, it said.
The disposal site sits between two runways and near the Changi Jurassic Mile and Tanah Merah Country Club, The Straits Times reported. No public areas were affected.
The SPF said it coordinated with the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, CAG, SAF and the Singapore Civil Defense Force throughout the operation.
Terminal 5 is the centerpiece of Changi East, the airport’s largest expansion project. It is expected to add capacity for 50 million passengers per year and become operational in the mid-2030s, bringing the airport’s total handling capacity to over 130 million.
Unexploded wartime ordnance turns up periodically in Singapore, which was heavily bombed during World War II. In 2023, a 100-kg WWII bomb unearthed at an Upper Bukit Timah Road construction site forced evacuations and caused cracked ceilings and shattered glass in nearby homes, The Straits Times reported.
In 2016, the army disposed of a 227-kg bomb on Pulau Senang, a small island south of the mainland.
The 250-kg bomb found at Changi East is among the heaviest discovered in Singapore in recent years.
Comments are closed.