By Ding Wendong, Zhao Wenhuan
BEIRUT, Dec. 10 -- Recently the 19th Chinese peacekeeping multi-function engineering contingent to Lebanon successfully carried out the disposal and destruction of expired ammunition for friendly peacekeeping troops in Naqoura of south Lebanon. This batch of ammunition mainly included signal bombs, smoke bombs, and self-propelled rocket launchers with warheads.
This was the first ammunition destruction mission carried out by the contingent since its deployment in August this year, which had started on November 30 and ended on December 8.
In early November, the Chinese contingent received an order from the command of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to destroy a batch of expired ammunition for the Serbian peacekeeping troops in Lebanon.
After receiving the order, the contingent established a command team, an EOD team, a security team, and a medical team.
They scientifically allocated the TNT equivalent and determined the location of explosives. The EOD team used motor vehicles to shuttle the daily ammunition portions to be destroyed between the camp and the UNIFIL Naqoura blast site 20 kilometers away.
The destruction task was intense and time was very limited. The only five members of the EOD team had to work for five consecutive hours every day, carrying the hazadous items again and again in full-body protection. "It is quite a test, both physical and psychological", said Huang Yougang, commanding officer of the EOD team.
In the end, they conducted 35 blasts safely and accurately, and destroyed all expired stocks successfully.