New Jersey Senators, Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez are strongly urging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) to complete their search and recovery of UXO on Surf City beach by the start of summer. As reported in the UXO News Wire Service article on 13 March, the USACE lead beach replenishment project resulted in live WWII era fuzes being deposited onto the New Jersey beach.

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The Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a status report on the cleanup of Vieques Island in Puerto Rico. The report provides an update on the progress made to date of both Installation Restoration Program (IRP) and Military Munitions Response Program (MMRP) sites. The status of the MMRP sites was presented for both the eastern and western sides of the island.

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Waianae, Hawaii - Navy divers conducted an underwater survey for munitions and propellant charges in an area known as Five-Inch Reef located approximately ¾ of a mile offshore. Reportedly, hundreds of propellant charges have been found washing up along the Waianae Coast for decades including some that were found by local residents as recently as a week ago.

The Army, who has the lead in the investigation in finding the source of the propellant charges, reported that the dive yielded at least one propellant charge being found. The propellant charge was reported as a single-base nitrocellulose charge used in the firing of projectiles.

Historical records show that thousands of munitions have been dumped in the waters off Waianae back in the WWII time frame. Another location of interest that is suspected of containing propellant charges and dumped munitions is known as Ammo Reef, located approximately 200 yards from the Waianae boat harbor. Reportedly, the divers experienced significant underwater currents during the dive and it was unclear at this time if the search will be expanded.

Afghanistan  The use of UXO by insurgents to build roadside IEDs has prompted the Canadian military to implement a novel program to locate UXO and explosives. The program pays cash incentives to Afghan locals for tips that lead to the discovery of UXO or explosives.

Payments are made on a sliding scale, up to $250, depending on the type of UXO or hazard. Shape charge munitions such as anti-tank projectiles and rockets and larger weapons caches typically yield the most reward. Individual small arms or machine gun bullets are worth 10 cents per round.

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Wiltshire, United Kingdom  Police are warning visitors and recreational users of the Savernake Forest to be aware of the potential for UXO. The warnings come after an amateur archaeologist working just several meters away from a popular camping and picnic site found a WWII hand grenade. A British Royal Army Ordnance Corps bomb disposal unit safely destroyed the grenade.

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Kabul, Afghanistan  an explosion in a downtown commercial and residential area killed six people and injured nine others. The explosion was linked to a shop that sells commercial explosives and ammunition. Reportedly, the shopkeeper, who was among the dead, was arrested in the past for illegally selling and distributing dynamite that was used for unauthorized mining.

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"On 15 January 1956, a U.S. Navy EOD team pushed the last of its cargo into the sea and watched it disappear on its way to a destination 2,000 fathoms down." The quote was the lead sentence from an unclassified Bulletin of Ordnance Information Publication (No 3-56, dated 30 September 1956). The bulletin was found by a researcher at the National Archives and recently donated to UXOInfo.com.

The bulletin outlines a special EOD diving, recovery and disposal operation in the Tokyo Bay in 1956. At the end of WWII the Japanese hastily dumped thousands of munitions including CWM filled ones in nearby waters. In one instance they dumped 177 mustard filled bombs in a shallow water area ranging in depth from 30 to 40 feet. After being submerged for over 10 years they were almost forgotten about until Japanese salvage divers happened upon them when they were searching for scrap metal. The U.S. military was brought in to assess the situation. They decided that it would be best to recover the bombs and dispose of them "properly" by dumping them in much deeper waters.

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A contractor working as a UXO technician in Iraq under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) managed Coalition Munitions Clearance Program was killed while performing his job. Donald Neil, 44, a Berlin New Hampshire native was working with munitions at a military base outside of Bagdad when one detonated. Two others were injured in the blast as well.

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Kuwait City, Kuwait  A contractor was killed by when a landmine he was handling exploded at the U.S. military base Camp Arifjan located just south of Kuwait City. At least three others were injured during the blast. The U.S. Army has not released the names or the nationalities of the victims however; a statement released by the Army confirmed that no U.S. or Kuwaiti citizens were among them. It is unknown what the contractor was doing with the landmine or whether or not he was a UXO technician. The Army will undoubtedly conduct an investigation to determine the cause of the accident.

Seaside Park, New Jersey  a 33-year-old man combing the riverfront of the South Toms River with a metal detector uncovered a cannonball buried two feet in the sand. Curious, the man decided to take the item home to research it further. He placed the cannonball in a bucket of water in the back of his truck and drove it to his house. At the house he proceeded to scrape the rust off the item with a butter knife. Reportedly he came upon a circular opening where rope like matter was stuffed in the iron ball. He then began to smell gunpowder and suddenly became concerned.

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