Chinese experts estimated Friday that there may be over 500 bombs buried at the Japanese chemical weapons clearing site in Qiqihar City, northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

The site, in Touzhan Village, is two meters long, two meters wide and 0.6 meters deep, said Ma Yinde, an official with the Chinese team from the Shenyang Military Area Command of the People's Liberation Army.

Based on this data, the number of bombs buried in the site could be as many as over 500 and most are chemical weapons containing toxic agents, said Ma.

The bombs were found by a local farmer, Dong Liyan, on May 23 at his courtyard, where a Japanese airport was located and a deployment regiment was stationed during World War II.

A joint team composed of Chinese and Japanese experts arrived in Qiqihar on Wednesday. The Japanese team will take charge of the chemical weapons' recall process, which is expected to last 10 days.

Some 2,000 Chinese people have so far become victims of the discarded chemical weapons after the war was over, according to reports. In Qiqihar alone, eight accidents involving Chinese becoming victims of Japanese chemical weapons have occurred since new China was founded in 1949.

Qiqihar used to be a major logistics base of the Japanese troops during the war.

(Xinhua News Agency June 19, 2004)