FRANKFURT, Germany—A 1,100-pound World War II bomb was defused near the Frankfurt headquarters of the European Central Bank hours after thousands of people were evacuated from the surrounding district on July 7.
City officials called on about 16,500 people to leave their homes in the Ostend area east of downtown Frankfurt on Sunday morning before emergency workers tackled the American bomb, which was found during construction work last month.
In Frankfurt am Main hat der Countdown zur Entschärfung einer 500 Kilogramm schweren Bombe aus dem Zweiten Weltkrieg begonnen. https://t.co/8os3qmxpSd
— Tagesspiegel (@Tagesspiegel) July 7, 2019
Authorities had already moved some people out of a nursing home on Saturday.
More than 70 years after the end of the war, unexploded bombs are frequently found in Germany. Disposing of them sometimes entails large-scale precautionary evacuations such as the one on Sunday.
Tusindvis evakueret efter fund af bombe midt i Frankfurt https://t.co/AprKbPqAc6 pic.twitter.com/424cOl1nni
— Jyllands-Posten (@jyllandsposten) July 7, 2019
The defusing operation was completed by mid-afternoon, according to the city’s fire service, about two hours after police verified that no one was left in the area.
Officials chose Sunday to defuse the bomb to allow preparation and to minimize disruption in Frankfurt, Germany’s financial center.
Crater in Field Apparently Caused by WWII Bomb
In another WWII bomb related story, a crater 33-feet wide and 13-feet deep appeared in central Germany two weeks ago. It was caused by a World War II bomb exploding in the middle of the night.
A mysterious explosion in a German cornfield was probably a WWII bomb https://t.co/pAuhREYSFo pic.twitter.com/4rrquzXpOr
— CNN (@CNN) June 25, 2019
Police said on June 24 that the crater was discovered near Limburg and there was no indication it was caused by farm machinery or other tools. Residents reported having heard a loud explosion and felt a blast in the early hours of June 23.
No one was hurt. News agency dpa reported that police said the shape of the crater, among other factors, led explosives clearance experts to confirm it was created by a bomb.
550-Pound Bomb Defused
In April this year, some 600 people had been evacuated from their homes in Frankfurt 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 on April 14, which led to a loud detonation and a big water fountain on the river. Police told dpa “the bomb is no longer a danger.”
During the underwater defusing, a more than 30-meters high fountain was rising and visible from afar. “This huge explosion and water fountain were really impressive and huge, that worked really well.” said Claudia Klerks, who happened to be there with her husband.
The American 550-pound bomb was discovered by firefighters during diving training in the river.
