A bomb identified as being made by Japan during World War Two was discovered at a port in Yantai, in east China's Shandong Province, police sources said.

The bomb was found while a dozen workers were unloading scrap metal at the harbor. Workers noticed the crane picking up a huge object; when they inspected it after it was laid down they found it to be a large, rusty bomb.

When they got the call, harbor police rushed to the scene and launched an investigation.

The 1.2-meter-long bomb weighs about 300 kilograms, with a diameter of 50 centimeters, police said.

Experts say the bomb, whose surface is clearly marked with a date, was dropped by a Japanese plane during the war.

It is fortunate that the bomb was identified at the harbor, experts said, as it would have exploded in a furnace if it had been melted down as scrap.

The police are still investigating how the bomb got into the scrap metal pile.

(Xinhua News Agency March 15, 2004)