IN THE Thames estuary, 60 kilometres from central London, lies the 60-year-old wreck of the American liberty ship Richard Montgomery. It still carries 1400 tonnes of TNT, and according to a report commissioned by the UK government, an explosion is 鈥渋ncreasingly probable with the passing of time鈥�. Which makes it odd that it has taken four years to publish the report, which will appear this week.
New 杏吧原创 revealed last year that the then secret report warned of the dangers posed by the wreck (21 August 2004, p 36). The ship is disintegrating and is likely to start collapsing in 10 to 20 years鈥� time. 鈥淓xperience from other similar wrecks indicates that the explosion of one munition is likely to result in a mass explosion,鈥� the report says. It would be the world鈥檚 biggest non-nuclear explosion apart from volcanoes, and would cause 拢1 billion of damage and widespread injuries to the public.
鈥淚t would be the world鈥檚 biggest non-nuclear explosion apart from volcanoes鈥�
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Removing the explosives would mean evacuating 40,000 people for six months. The report鈥檚 favoured solution is to build an 1800-metre earthwork around the wreck to deaden the blast of the explosion.