The Defence Force has safely detonated a marine marker flare on Motukorea\/Browns Island \u2013 with the blast heard by residents as far away as Howick.<\/p>\n
The New Zealand Defence Force told 1News it responded to a request for assistance from the police on Motukorea\/ Browns Island where an “item of concern” had been located.<\/p>\n
The Explosive Ordnance Disposal team investigated and determined the item to be a marine marker, which was “disposed of in a safe manner” at around 12.30pm.<\/p>\n
Marine markers typically contained phosphorus and an explosive charge. <\/p>\n
Dropped from aircraft or launched from ships, they were often used in search and rescue missions, anti-submarine warfare and maritime research.<\/p>\n
Chris Murray, who was walking his family dog at Mellons Bay, said he looked north after hearing a “loud boom” and saw a puff of smoke, capturing the moment on camera.<\/p>\n
The explosion was heard as far away as Howick Beach, around 8km to the southeast.<\/p>\n
NZDF said anyone who discovered a potentially dangerous item should always exercise caution until the item was cleared as safe by an expert.<\/p>\n
“If you do discover something that might be dangerous, remain clear of the item and contact New Zealand Police as soon as possible,” they added.<\/p>\n
Motukorea\/Browns Island is a small volcanic island north of Musick Point. The uninhabited island is part of the Hauraki Gulf Marine Park and is a popular spot for boaties and walkers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Defence Force has safely detonated a marine marker flare on Motukorea\/Browns Island \u2013 with the blast heard…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":478020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[51,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-478019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-auckland","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=478019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/478019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/478020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=478019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=478019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=478019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}