Hundreds evacuated in Frankfurt so WWII bomb can be removed
250-kilogram device, discovered in Main River by divers last week, successfully defused underwater
Some 600 people were evacuated from their homes in the old city of Frankfurt on Sunday so specialists could remove a World War II-era bomb that was discovered in the Main River.
The German news agency dpa reported the bomb was defused, as planned, underwater, which led to a loud detonation and a big water fountain on the river. Police told dpa “the bomb is no longer a danger.”
Firefighters had discovered the American 250-kilogram (550-pound) bomb during diving training in the river last Tuesday.
Even more than 70 years after the end of the war, bombs and other munitions still turn up regularly in Germany, a testament to the ferocity of the fighting in World War II.
In the biggest post-war evacuation to date, some 60,000 Frankfurt residents were evacuated in 2017 so that an unexploded 1.8-ton British bomb dubbed the “blockbuster” could be defused.
Last August, 18,500 people in the city of Ludwigshafen were evacuated to allow for the defusion of a 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) aerial bomb thought to have been dropped by American forces.
