Bomb Horror 
2003 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance
14.08.2002
By ELIZABETH BINNING
A man blew off his hand and a companion was hurt when a dynamite bomb exploded inside a van at a Waikato picnic spot.
The explosion, which happened just before 1pm near Taupiri yesterday, prompted an emergency alert when a second bomb was discovered inside the van.
A Navy bomb squad from Auckland used a robot to detonate the remaining pipebomb.
The two injured men were flown to Waikato Hospital and the driver was undergoing surgery last night.
The first person at the scene was Graeme Hogg, who was having lunch at the secluded spot, at the top of a hill 10 minutes' drive east of State Highway 1, when the bomb went off.
The Waikato man was sitting metres from the van when he heard a loud explosion and saw two men tumble out of the front doors in a plume of smoke.
"It was just like a bomb going off. The driver got out and he was very badly injured. I could see his hand was blown off and there was bits of metal in his leg."
r Hogg was not sure what had caused the explosion and called for assistance on his cellphone while he tried to help the two men.
After covering the driver with a blanket, he asked the other man what caused the explosion.
"The passenger said to me that a dynamite bomb had gone off. He said the force of the explosion inside the van was just enormous."
r Hogg said he saw shrapnel from the bomb in the van and on the ground, but did not realise a second bomb remained undetonated inside.
It was only when the Navy experts arrived and searched with their robot that Mr Hogg realised he had been wandering around a potentially deadly area.
Police cordoned off the area and the bomb squad spent three hours trying to safely dispose of the second pipebomb.
Inside the van was a padlocked toolbox which could have contained more bombs.
The squad used the robot to blow off the padlock but found the toolbox to be empty.
They then detonated the second pipebomb.
Sergeant Len Fox said police did not know why the men had dynamite in the van, which was relatively undamaged apart from a smashed window.
They are still to speak to the men, who are believed to be in their late 20s or early 30s.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=2349357&thesection=news&thesubsection=general
Submitted on 08/13/2002
Submitted by:
Cam Slater
Reference:
NZ Herald 14/08/2002
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