Koblenz Germany Evacuates 45,000 to Defuse Massive WWII Bomb
KOBLENZ, Germany — Officials in Germany's western city of Koblenz say some 45,000 residents have to be evacuated as officials try to defuse a World War II era bomb discovered in the Rhine river.
The BBC reported that this is the biggest bomb-related evacuation ever in Germany since the war.
City officials said Saturday that the massive British 1.8-ton bomb will be defused early Sunday, requiring all residents within a radius of about 1.2 miles of the bomb site to leave their homes for the day.
Officials say seven nursing homes, two hospitals and a prison are also being evacuated. Train and road traffic in the area, some 80 miles northwest of Frankfurt, will come to a halt.
The British bomb was found last week alongside a 275-pound bomb dropped there by U.S. forces during WWII, after Rhine's water level fell due to lack of rain.
On Saturday, the huge bomb could be seen with a ring of hundreds of large sandbags around it.
was a dam buster bomb ?
guess the defusing went well
It looks like a dam buster bomb.
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 Sunday experts were able to defuse the 1.8 ton bomb and a 275-pound US bomb that had been discovered last month in the Rhine river. (AP)