Feb 24, 2024 at 7:14 AM Update: 16 minutes ago
A bomb from the Second World War has stirred emotions in the British port city of Plymouth. The 500-kilogram projectile was found on Tuesday in the garden of a house. The army defused the bomb in the sea on Friday.
A contractor came across the bomb while working in the garden, reports The Guardian. He called in the police, who quickly cleared the area in the middle of Plymouth.
After the discovery of the bomb, an area of 200 meters around the bomb was initially evacuated. On Thursday, that area was expanded to 309 meters. It meant that approximately 3,250 residents of more than 1,200 buildings had to temporarily leave their homes.
More than a thousand police officers, firefighters and soldiers were involved in defusing the bomb. That was a complicated operation. The bomb weighed 500 kilos and was located close to several homes, partly under the concrete.
Another 10,000 people evacuated to transport bomb
The emergency services decided to defuse the bomb in the sea. A route between the site and the coast was evacuated on Friday afternoon due to the risk that the bomb would explode during transport. More than ten thousand people had to leave buildings along the route.
Transporting the bomb went without any problems. The projectile was transported very slowly through the city in a military convoy. At 5:30 PM local time, the bomb arrived safely at the port and the evacuated residents were able to return home.
Explosion caused at most a ‘modest splash’
In the harbour, the bomb was hung behind a naval ship. The ship towed the bomb a safe distance from the coast, where it was detonated at a depth of 14 meters at 9:51 pm local time.
A lieutenant objected in advance The Guardian said that spectators should not expect spectacular scenes. The explosion would at most cause a “modest splash”.
During World War II, Plymouth was bombed 59 times by the German Luftwaffe. Due to the presence of a naval base and a Royal Air Force airfield, Plymouth was an important target. The bombings killed 1,174 civilians and damaged or destroyed thousands of buildings in the city.
Image: AP
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World War IIUnited KingdomForeign
2024-02-24 06:14:11
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