25,000 people evacuated after discovery of WWII bomb



Heaps of sand around the 500 kg bomb whose discovery in Frankfurt led to the evacuation of 25,000 people. – Frank Rumpenhorst / AP / SIPA

World War II returned to the minds of the financial capital of Germany. Some 25,000 people were evacuated at the end of the day in Frankfurt on Wednesday, after the discovery during work of a 500 kg bomb dating from this conflict.

Residents of the area, located in the densely populated district of Nordend, had to evacuate before the bomb was blown, the city of Frankfurt said. The demining services must detonate the device after covering it with earth, local authorities said.

“A little stress”

Tobias, 29, claims to have heard the instruction “through the loudspeakers of the police”. His cat in a cage, he says he felt “a little stress” when he was ordered to leave his home “now”. Barbara, 77, heard the news “on the radio”. “It was a bit of a shock, we don’t expect that,” she explained, adding that she wanted to go home “as soon as possible”.

Germany remains riddled with unexploded bombs that are often found on construction sites, 76 years after the end of World War II. Seven bombs were thus defused in 2020 after being discovered at the first European site for Tesla electric cars, which is due to open near Berlin in 2021. In 2017, the discovery in Frankfurt of a 1.4 tonne bomb had caused the evacuation of 65,000 people, the largest evacuation operation in Europe since 1945.



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