British charity worker and colleague killed in paradise isle explosion
A BRITISH man and his colleague working to map unexploded bombs across the Solomon Islands have been killed in an explosion.
Stephen “Luke” Atkinson and Australian Trent Lee died at their home in the capital Honiara.
Mr Atkinson was born in Singapore and held a British passport, as well as Irish and New Zealand passports.
The pair were working for nongovernmental organisation the Norwegian People’s Aid ( NPA), which helps map unexploded ordnance across the islands.
The South Pacific nation was a key battleground in the Second World War and its islands are littered with remnants from land and sea clashes between Allied and Japanese forces.
Authorities have been clearing them ahead of the 2023 Pacific Games, which the Solomon Islands is hosting and police believe the two men may have been carrying out work to disarm unexploded ordnance ( UXO).
Inspector Clifford Tunuki, the police officer in charge of explosive ordnance disposal, said preliminary investigations indicated there were “several items of UXO at the residence on Guadalcanal island and the workers may have been conducting some UXO work”.
He said in a statement that police had a good working relationship with NPA. He added: “We are concerned they decided to conduct operations within a residential area.
“Police did not know these items had been moved to the NPA residence. If we had known, we would have requested that the items be moved to a safe location.”
Per Nergaard, deputy secretary general of the NPA, called the Sunday night blast a “tragic accident”. He said: “Our main priority now is to offer assistance to relatives and colleagues, and to clarify what has happened.”