IPOH, Dec 29 — An underground bomb shelter used during World War II has been unearthed on the grounds of Ipoh’s Sultan Azlan Shah Airport.

Announcing the discovery today, Malaya Historical Group chief researcher Shaharom Ahmad said the shelter was the first of its kind found in Malaysia.

The shelter, measuring around 9.14m long, 9.14m wide, and 2m tall was found on a field in front of some police barracks, 500m away from the main airport building.

Believed to be constructed between 1940 and 1941, the concrete shelter was built to protect Allied forces from Japanese military air strikes.

Shaharom said the structure of the shelter resembled those found in Singapore and Europe.

"The society was alerted to the shelter two days ago (Wednesday), by an airport staff member,” said Shaharom, who specialises in World War II research.

"To our knowledge, this is the first underground shelter found in Malaysia.”

Shaharom said the airport staff member had come across the shelter’s entrance while clearing the field several years ago , but did not know what it was.

Two days ago, Shaharom coincidentally happened to meet the staff member while conducting a study of Malaysia’s airfields and airports.

"After I told him what I was doing here, he informed me about the structure he found,” he said.

"I immediately began searching with another friend, and we found the shelter that very day. There was nothing inside, but the structure of the shelter is still intact.”

Shaharom said there was Chinese writing on the walls, roughly translated to "2100 food”.

Based on this, Shaharom said it was possible that the shelter had been built by Chinese contractors working for the British.

He said it was also possible that more similar structures could be found nearby.

"Usually these structures do not stand alone. However, we will need time to keep looking in the area.”

Asked if any additional security would be placed nearby the find, airport manager Mohd Ali Osman said that the field was in a gated police barracks area.

"We feel that it will be secure, as it is next to an area with police presence,” he said.