Five people have been killed and three others remain missing after a World War Two bomb detonated in a densely populated residential area of Papua, Indonesia, destroying several buildings and sending a fireball more than 20 feet into the air as thick black smoke engulfed the surrounding streets.
The explosion struck Biak Kota District in Biak Numfor, Papua, with CCTV cameras at the nearby Biak Port capturing the moment of detonation — a massive fireball erupting before a mushroom cloud of smoke bloomed into the sky as shockwaves tore through the neighbourhood and debris from collapsed buildings was thrown into the air. Footage circulating online showed the devastating aftermath, including the deeply distressing moment a young boy’s limp body was pulled from beneath the rubble by local residents.
Biak Numfor Police Chief Ari Trestiawan confirmed the cause of the blast to Indonesian news agency Antara, stating that the explosion had been triggered by an active wartime bomb. He said the bodies of five victims had been evacuated from the scene, with the search for three further missing persons set to continue. The cause and precise circumstances of the detonation remain under investigation.
A significant emergency response was mobilised in the aftermath. Officers from Biak Numfor Police, the Papua Regional Police Mobile Brigade, the Biak Numfor Military District Command, the Civil Service Police Unit and search and rescue teams were all deployed to the scene. Bomb disposal personnel conducted a thorough search of the surrounding area to establish whether any further unexploded ordnance remained in the vicinity.
In a statement, the military said: “We express our deepest condolences to the victims’ families. Our primary focus now is the evacuation process, the search for any missing victims, and ensuring the location is completely safe.”
The Indonesian archipelago was a significant theatre of the Pacific War, and unexploded ordnance from the Second World War remains a persistent and deadly hazard across the region — a reminder that the physical legacy of the conflict, now more than 80 years old, continues to claim lives.
The incident follows a separate wartime bomb discovery in Paris in April, where construction workers on Rue des Champarons unearthed a World War Two explosive, prompting the evacuation of thousands of residents within a 1,476-foot radius of the find. Nearly 800 police officers were deployed to enforce an evacuation zone as experts carried out what authorities described as a “risky” disposal operation. French authorities confirmed the controlled explosion was carried out successfully.
