Massive WWII Bomb Succesfully Defused in Germany

A massive British World War II-era bomb that
triggered the evacuation of about half of the 107,000 residents of
Germany's western city of Koblenz was successfully defused Sunday,
authorities said.

It was one of Germany's biggest bomb-related
evacuations since the war ended with some 2,500 police officers,
firefighters and paramedics on duty across the city to secure the
operation.


Experts successfully defused the British 1.8
ton bomb and a 275-pound U.S. bomb that had been discovered last month
after the Rhine river's water level fell significantly due to a
prolonged lack of rain, said Heiko Breitbarth, a spokesman for Koblenz's
firefighters.
Some 45,000 residents, living within a
radius of about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the bomb site had to leave
their houses early Sunday before the evacuation order was lifted in the
evening, the city said on its website. Among those ordered to evacuate
were seven nursing homes, two hospitals and a prison with some 200
inmates.


The British bomb could have cause massive damage in case it exploded.


"I did my job, that was all," lead defusing expert Horst Lenz told local daily Rhein Zeitung.
Finding unexploded bombs dropped by the Allies over Germany during World
War II is common over 65 years after the war's end. The explosives are
usually defused or detonated by experts without causing injuries.


Authorities in Koblenz had set up shelters for the evacuees and used buses to carry them to safety.


Train and road traffic came to a halt in the area, some 130 kilometers northwest of Frankfurt during the operation.


The residents of Koblenz, which was heavily
bombed during World War II, are used to bomb scares. City officials said
28 smaller war bombs had been found there since 1999, the German news
agency dapd reported. Such bombs are often found during construction
work or by farmers plowing their fields.


Separately, another 200 people had to be
evacuated from the southern German city of Nuremberg as experts there
defused another bomb left from the war. The 70 kilogram (155 pounds) of
unknown origin was defused in 15 minutes, the city said in a statement.
Source

crazy.

Damn, 60 years later and they are still active? That's nuts.

Lol you know the guy who dropped it knew it was still there.