According to officials, bombs dropped by the American Forces on the Great Barrier Reef while doing a training exercise in a deep-sea operation have been recovered on Sunday by a joint US-Australian Navy dive team.
The US and Australian officers told Telegraph in a letter that their Navy divers have affixed balloons to haul a couple of unarmed GBU-12 laser guided bombs to the sea floor in a two-day deepwater operation involving strong tides.
"The United States and Royal Australian Navies should be congratulated on the successful recovery and disposal of the ordnance, while ensuring that all environmental and safety requirements were met," said Lieutenant General Ash Power, Australian chief of joint operations to the Telegraph.
However, two more cement-filled dummy bombs (BDU-45) that have no explosive elements were utilized also in the said training were left on the ocean floor because of “difficult diving conditions.”
The said four bombs were discarded by two US AV-8B Harrier jets in the waters last month where the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is. This happened while the U.S was doing bilateral war games with Australian forces after civilian boats wander off into the intended drop zone. The bombs were found 30 kilometers near the closest coral reef and 50 kilometers away from the coastline.
Minesweeper HMAS Gascoyne found the bombs using a remote-controlled submersible set with sonar.
Just after they were brought to the surface and completed the safety inspection, the bombs were detonated in a nearby official ordnance demolition beach.
Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) Officer, Russell Reichelt told Telegraph that survey photos had verified the bombs landed “on a sandy bottom, away from any sensitive habitat.”
He added that they have supported the U.S Navy’s decision to just leave the dummy bomb on the sea floor because those bombs are harmless to the people and to our environment.
