World War II Treasure – Excavation Hazards

Aside from the tropical heat and humidity, one of the most precautionary aspects of the treasure recovery in the Philippines is the ingenuity of the Japanese engineering on these sites.

Described here are some of the hazards that treasure hunters have encountered during the excavation of Yamashita’s gold.

Water traps

The sites were often located near a water source like a pond or river. The burial site was dug as deeply as possible. Sometimes this would involve the excavation of soil and rock beneath the water table in the drier seasons. Pipes of terra cotta are then routed on the site, sealed and filled with water from the source.

Extreme caution is observed during recovery. An unwary digger can easily break one of the pipes, flooding the chamber with water. Once a tube is broken, it is very difficult to close again due to weight and speed of the continuous flow which can exceed 500 gallons per minute.

Egyptian Rockfall Style

We’ve all seen the narrow escape of Indiana Jones in the popular movie series. Yes, rock and soil suspension was used by the Japanese as well.

Unfortunately, this type of booby-traps is very difficult to detect in advance. It’s not only can cause injury or death, but an excavation can be severely being penalized time wise.

Springloaded Bomb Detonators

An unsuspecting digger can also meet his fate with a 1000 or 2,000 pound (or smaller, but deadly) bomb that had been captured from the Allied Forces. These bombs were often cosmoline sealed. The thick grease still favored by gun owners for long term storage and protection against corrosion.

The excavator moves an object (sometimes the treasure itself) that activates a spring mechanism. The acid is then leaked on a copper plate which, when dissolved, it triggers a detonator. Alternatively, the digger may not be afforded the luxury of a time delay.

Luckily, these bombs can be detected by a meter or more in advance with the use of modern electronics.

Glass-Encases Cyanide Capsules

Somewhere along the way to a treasure, one can find a glass cylinder a few liters in volume are divided into two chambers: one contains sulfuric acid liquid, the other is a powder of either potassium cyanide or sodium cyanide. If it breaks, yields a mixture that is very Volitile and light but invisible gas cloud of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) that quickly is going to interfere with breathing. The smell is almost imperceptible, but vaguely resembles bitter almonds. Within seconds, it becomes difficult to maintain breathing or breathing normally. Within a minute, he stops breathing. Five minutes later, heart failure occurs.

There is no known way to detect these capsules. A wise digger insists on using a gas mask with a respirator impregnated with metal salts at all times.