15th: Excavation and recovery operation in Huangpu Guangzhou City, Guangdong (Feb. 2007)

Outline:: In October 2004 the Chinese side officially notified the Japanese side of the discovery of munitions in the estuary area (at the bottom of a river port) of the Zhu river. In November the Japanese side held an on-site preparatory meeting with the Chinese side and discussed the possibility of conducting of a horizontal detection in the area. They also confirmed the existence of on 75 mm Ki-Dan at the site.
In December 2004 the Japanese side sent an investigation team. The team conducted a survey identifying the range of the excavation area, as well as identification of the recovered munitions which were recovered during the survey.
As a result, a total of 4 shells were identified as Japanese ACWs. Therefore the work plan for excavation and recovery was established. After careful preparations including detection and safety checks of the riverbed, erection of water blocking wall, temporary relocation of the people living on the water and draining of the riverbed, the excavation and recovery operations were conducted. The excavation, external feature identification and overpacking of excavated munitions were carried out.