TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Australian officials went furious after United States' fighter jets dropped four bombs on the Great Barrier Reef. The bombs were jettisoned during a training exercise went wrong.
Australian senator Larissa Waters, Greens party spokeswoman on the Great Barrier Reef, claimed the US military action to be outrageous. "Is this how we look after our World Heritage area now? Letting a foreign power drop bombs on it?"
According to US 7th Fleet Spokesman, the two US AV-88 Harrier fighter jets were launched from the USS Bonhomme Richard aircraft carrier last week. The jets experienced technical problems during a training exercise in Queensland, causing them to having to drop the inert bombs in the protected Great Barrier Reef territory last Tuesday.
The four bombs that totaled 1.8 tonnes were dropped in a location that is in water around 50 m deep, approximately 30 km from the nearest reef. The two jets initially planned to release the bombs on the Townshend island bombing range, but canceled the plan after the island was claimed not free from hazards.
"The approved area where they could do some of this live training with these 500-pound bombs, it was not safe to drop the bombs," said William Marks from the US military. "There were civilian boats right below them."
When dropped, the four bombs did not explode. The two fighter jets that is a part of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit were reported to be out of fuel and could not land if they were still carrying the bombs. After coordinating with Australian authorities, they decided to release the bombs on the reef territory.
L SKY NEWS | CHANNEL NEWSASIA | SITA PLANASARI AQUADINI
