The BDF Bomb squad took the other two bombs that Burgos had on his property and have since collected quite a few others from the surrounding areas. People who had them in their possession just simply did not know they could detonate. Today we spoke to the CEO in the Ministry of Defense about the presence and history of these hidden hazards:
Major Francis Usher (Ret'd), CEO - Ministry of Defence
"It's a heavy thing, you know, especially when these older military equipment end up causing what is now a catastrophe. The general area was once called the New River Training Area, not Carmelita Village itself, but behind it."
"It was used as a training area for military forces in Belize for various different things. One of them was to train ordnance out of aircraft, aircraft ordnance. This particular UXO was an MK-1 aircraft bomb, if you want to call it that, and it wasn't alive, it only had what's called a spotting charge, but the spotting charge itself is big enough so that from the air you are able to see the point of impact on the ground."
"So it does create a significant explosion, just not one that a thousand pound bomb would actually cause."
Jules Vasquez
"So it was a thousand pound bomb?"
Major Francis Usher (Ret'd), CEO - Ministry of Defence
"The figure or the type of UXO, if it were to contain TNT inside, would be a thousand pound."
"It was the size of a thousand pound bomb, but it did not have the TNT inside of it, it only had the spotting charge to be able to see where the point of impact was."
Jules Vasquez
"But still, it's not like you're shooting a blank from a handgun. It has massive explosive expansion still because, you know, the accounts from that village are that the earth shook."
Major Francis Usher (Ret'd), CEO - Ministry of Defence
"Yeah, it can create a large enough crater to be visible from the air. So in this particular case, it created a crater that was three feet wide and two inches deep."
Jules Vasquez
"What would be the public advisory?"
Major Francis Usher (Ret'd), CEO - Ministry of Defence
"So first of all, these are dangerous goods. If you find them, if you have them in your possession, please call the Belize Defense Force so we can have the subject matter experts, the explosive ordnance disposal team to go there and and to safely disarm it and remove it from the location."
"So I didn't put it in the press release. I apologize. But please call the Belize Defense Force watchkeeper at 610-6037 so that we can coordinate to remove these things safely and get them out of harm's way."
"I know it's as you referred to it, Mr Vasquez, a machismo thing to have in your house. It's not. It's a foolish thing. Please call us so we can safely dispose of them."
Usher said at this time he could not confirm if the bombs were British.
