The defusing of a 250 kilogram bomb in Berlin-Gesundbrunnen has begun. This was announced by a spokesman for the Berlin police on Sunday afternoon on request. All residents have now left the restricted area.
A special team from the State Office of Criminal Investigation is working to defuse the detonators on the bomb. Meanwhile, there is mortal danger within 500 meters of the Jewish Hospital. How long the work would take could not be foreseen at first.
A police spokeswoman said that the ambulance transports for people with physical limitations or acute illnesses had taken a lot of time. In addition, one must repeatedly convince individual residents to leave their homes.
Around three quarters of the approximately 15,000 people affected had already left their homes in the exclusion zone, said a police spokesman on Sunday afternoon.
Since early in the morning, around 400 police officers have been going from door to door within 500 meters of the Jewish hospital and making sure that all residents have left their homes. The German Red Cross (DRK) and the fire brigade are also on site. The evacuation is said to have proceeded without any difficulties so far.
In some houses in the restricted area, the police met some residents. How many there were cannot be quantified, said a police spokeswoman at the request of the Tagesspiegel.
The police have distributed multilingual flyers in the restricted area and also published the information on their own homepage and on the website of the district office on the Internet. However, the notifications would not reach everyone, the spokeswoman said. To do this, the police officers would have to go through every house and apartment individually. Loudspeaker announcements would be made at the same time.
According to the police, there were still people at the assembly points on the edge of the restricted area on Sunday afternoon – originally these assembly points were only supposed to be open until 11.30 a.m. From here, shuttle buses bring all people to emergency shelters who were unable to stay with friends or family members on Advent Sunday.
District Mayor Stephan von Dassel (Greens) announced on Twitter around noon on Sunday that it has not yet been possible to bring all people to safety who would have to be transported separately due to restrictions or an acute illness. The lists will be worked through meticulously: “We don’t forget anyone.”
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According to the police, a special team from the State Criminal Police Office has been preparing to defuse the bomb at the location where the bomb was found. An excavator had started on Sunday morning to remove the earth above the bomb. At first it was not possible to estimate when exactly the work could begin.
The World War II bomb was found on November 19 on the grounds of the Jewish Hospital. According to the city, the preparations for the evacuation had taken several weeks. (Tsp, dpa)