Photos: SCMP

Bomb disposal officers on Sunday defused a vintage US World War II bomb found buried under a Wan Chai building site in Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post reported.

Using pressurized water and sanding, the officers spent hours cutting holes in the cigar-shaped free-fall bomb – buried 25 meters below the site and weighing 450kg (1,000 lbs) before it could be safely removed.

The work was finished after 12 hours.

The device, 140cm long and 45cm in diameter, was discovered by construction workers at a building site for the Sha Tin-Central rail link on Harbour Road and Tonnochy Road Saturday morning.

More than 1,300 residents, hotel guests and office workers were evacuated from the area.

Senior police bomb disposal officer Tony Chow Shek-kin said that this was only the second time in history that a bomb of such size had been discovered in an urban area.