Last week, two American fighter jets accidentally dumped four unarmed bombs onto Australia's Great Barrier Reef during a training exercise that went wrong, according to National Geographic. The bomb is the latest threat to the delicate ecosystem.
The incident occurred on July 16 when two AV-8B aircraft took off from the U.S.S. Bonhomme Richard and ran out of fuel, forcing them to jettison an inert practice bomb and an unarmed laser-guided bomb, neither of which exploded.
The area where the bombs were dumped is a channel that's about 164 feet deep, and located about 18 miles south of Bell Cay in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Navy.
The site was selected to "minimize the possibility of reef damage," according to the Navy. However, environmentalists are calling for the ordnance to be removed as soon as possible so the incident can be investigated.
"We need to know why it happened," Richard Leck, of the World Wildlife Fund, said. "There's an enormous amount of threats around the reef...and having more threats occur in this form is certainly the last thing the reef needs."
Felicity Wishart of the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS) said she wants to see an end to that type of exercise in or near the reef.
"It's not just the bombs," Wishart said. "It's all the ship movement and aircraft noise.
"All of these things are not a normal part of that particular environment," she continued.
The bombs have caused outrage among the Australian public, with Australian Senator Larissa Waters calling the drops "outrageous."
The U.S. Navy is reviewing the possibility of retrieving the bombs.
"If the park service and the government agencies of Australia determine that they want those recovered, then we will coordinate with them on that recovery process," David Levy, a Seventh Fleet spokesman for the U.S. Navy told the Seattle Times.
The Great Barrier Reef is the largest structure on Earth built by living organisms. It contains an immense diversity of marine life. Even before the naval accident, the reef faced many environmental threats, including animals that eat the reef and industrial waste.
Information on the threats to the reef.
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