A bid to get rid of Bermuda's potentially lethal store of asbestos on the baselands has been bunkered.

Experts have ruled out the use of Cold War bunkers buried deep under the old US base for the containers full of the deadly dust.

Former Works and Engineering Minister Leonard Gibbons said last night: "They couldn't take a quarter of the asbestos which is currently awaiting disposal.'' Environment Minister Pamela Gordon pledged to investigate the bunkers as a potential dumping ground after a former worker at the US Naval Air Station suggested them as an alternative to sea-dumping or export to foreign waste tips.

She said she would ask Works and Engineering staff to examine the bunkers as a potential disposal site.

Mr. Gibbons said yesterday: "Asbestos is being delivered to the Government quarry daily.

"It's not a problem which will go away with what is reported to be 165 containers already -- probably more than that now. And there is no way that the bunkers could take very much of it at all.'' Mr. Gibbons said he was in favour of the sea-dumping option because "the danger of asbestos is right now, today''. He said asbestos waste, which can cause cancer if breathed in, is safe in water.

Mr. Gibbons added: "It's not dangerous sitting in the ceiling of the library, either -- but it's dangerous when it gets into the air and is inhaled.'' Government favours dumping the asbestos in two miles of ocean off Bermuda as the cheapest and safest way of disposal.

Enviromental watchdogs Greenpeace, however, has vowed to fight a propaganda war if sea-dumping goes ahead and pledged to disrupt any marine disposal operations.

Two Bermudian businessmen have also come up with separate plans to ship the waste to specialist land dumps in the USA.

But Ministers fear Bermuda would have to carry a massive insurance policy "forever'' to protect the Island against potentially enormous claims for damages if asbestos escaped from the dumps at some time in the future.