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BERLIN
(Reuters) - German bomb disposal experts successfully defused a
1.8-tonne unexploded World War Two bomb in the river Rhine on Sunday,
after thousands of residents were evacuated from homes, hospitals and
even a prison.
Germany is littered with unexploded U.S. and British bombs. But the
British aerial mine defused on Sunday was one of the biggest found in
the country, and its defusal caused disruption across the city of
Koblenz.
Patients were rolled out of hospitals in wheelchairs and carried out
on stretchers, shopping streets in the city centre were sealed off and
even a prison was emptied. Sports halls were readied to accommodate
residents for several hours.
In total, some 45,000 people were cleared from an area of 1.8 km (1.1 mile) around the bomb.
The bomb was uncovered partly because of a fall in water levels after
a dry November. It was in about 40 cm (16 inches) of water and
surrounded by 350 sandbags.
Bomb disposal expert Marco Ofenstein said the operation was particularly risky.
"We have a British detonator which was surrounded by water for a long
time and the explosives within the detonator react with water over
time, which causes a high risk when the detonator is being removed,"
Ofenstein told Reuters Television.
In response to Nazi air raids on civilian targets in Poland and later
London, the Allies dropped about 1.9 million tonnes of bombs on Germany
in an effort to cripple German industry. The allied raids killed some
500,000 people.
Koblenz, located in western Germany at the picturesque intersection
of the rivers Rhine and Mosel, was a target in 1944 and 1945. Most of
the city was destroyed.
(Reporting by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)
Enlarge PhotoMember of the German bomb disposal squad stands next to a World War II bomb following …
BERLIN
(Reuters) - German bomb disposal experts successfully defused a
1.8-tonne unexploded World War Two bomb in the river Rhine on Sunday,
after thousands of residents were evacuated from homes, hospitals and
even a prison.
Germany is littered with unexploded U.S. and British bombs. But the
British aerial mine defused on Sunday was one of the biggest found in
the country, and its defusal caused disruption across the city of
Koblenz.
Patients were rolled out of hospitals in wheelchairs and carried out
on stretchers, shopping streets in the city centre were sealed off and
even a prison was emptied. Sports halls were readied to accommodate
residents for several hours.
In total, some 45,000 people were cleared from an area of 1.8 km (1.1 mile) around the bomb.
The bomb was uncovered partly because of a fall in water levels after
a dry November. It was in about 40 cm (16 inches) of water and
surrounded by 350 sandbags.
Bomb disposal expert Marco Ofenstein said the operation was particularly risky.
"We have a British detonator which was surrounded by water for a long
time and the explosives within the detonator react with water over
time, which causes a high risk when the detonator is being removed,"
Ofenstein told Reuters Television.
In response to Nazi air raids on civilian targets in Poland and later
London, the Allies dropped about 1.9 million tonnes of bombs on Germany
in an effort to cripple German industry. The allied raids killed some
500,000 people.
Koblenz, located in western Germany at the picturesque intersection
of the rivers Rhine and Mosel, was a target in 1944 and 1945. Most of
the city was destroyed.
(Reporting by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)