Bombs in German city defused
Source: Agencies |
December 5, 2011, Monday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
FIREFIGHTERS say a massive British World War II-era bomb that triggered the evacuation of half of Germany's western city of Koblenz was successfully defused.
Koblenz firefighter spokesman Heiko Breitbarth said yesterday experts defused the 1.8 ton bomb and a 275-pound American bomb that had been discovered last month in the Rhine river.
He says the evacuation order still remains in place because a smaller smoke grenade found nearby will be brought to a controlled explosion.
Some 45,000 residents living within a radius of about 2 kilometers from the bomb site had to leave their homes yesterday in what was one of Germany's biggest bomb-related evacuations since the war ended. About 2,500 police officers, firefighters and paramedics were on duty in the city to secure the operation.
Finding unexploded bombs dropped by the Allies over Germany is common even more than 65 years after the war's end. The explosives are usually defused or brought to a controlled explosion.
Officials have built a dam of hundreds of sand bags around the bomb site in the river bed to pump water out in preparation for the task.
Transport has halted in the area, some 130 kilometers northwest of Frankfurt.
Nearly half of the 107,000 residents of Koblenz had to leave their homes yesterday as experts prepared to defuse the World War II-era bomb.
Authorities set up shelters in parts of Koblenz farther away from the bomb site, and shuttle buses were on hand in the morning to carry residents to safety.
Koblenz firefighter spokesman Heiko Breitbarth said yesterday experts defused the 1.8 ton bomb and a 275-pound American bomb that had been discovered last month in the Rhine river.
He says the evacuation order still remains in place because a smaller smoke grenade found nearby will be brought to a controlled explosion.
Some 45,000 residents living within a radius of about 2 kilometers from the bomb site had to leave their homes yesterday in what was one of Germany's biggest bomb-related evacuations since the war ended. About 2,500 police officers, firefighters and paramedics were on duty in the city to secure the operation.
Finding unexploded bombs dropped by the Allies over Germany is common even more than 65 years after the war's end. The explosives are usually defused or brought to a controlled explosion.
Officials have built a dam of hundreds of sand bags around the bomb site in the river bed to pump water out in preparation for the task.
Transport has halted in the area, some 130 kilometers northwest of Frankfurt.
Nearly half of the 107,000 residents of Koblenz had to leave their homes yesterday as experts prepared to defuse the World War II-era bomb.
Authorities set up shelters in parts of Koblenz farther away from the bomb site, and shuttle buses were on hand in the morning to carry residents to safety.
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