Berlin to Be Evacuated for Bomb Defusal
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A large-scale evacuation is to take place in Berlin this morning to allow experts to defuse a WW2 bomb that is still in the city. Buildings in the surrounding 800m radius from the construction site where the bomb was discovered.
The zone includes government ministries, a hospital and the city’s central railway station. Thousands of dormant bombs are found each year from the bombings that took place between 1939-45. Police have stated there is no immediate danger from the 500kg bomb, which was found last Wednesday on Heidestrasse.
The area set to be cleared includes Berlin Hauptbahnhof – the central railway station and largest in Europe – an army hospital, the economy and transport ministries and the embassies of Indonesia and Uzbekistan, according to the police quoted by the AFP news agency.
The operation to defuse the bomb will take place around midday, with the area having been evacuated at around 9:00 local time (7:00 GMT).
The rail company Deutsche Bahn and other transport operators warned of large-scale disruption to trains, trams and buses in the area. Flights will not be affected from the Tegel airport. However, planes coming in to land will avoid flying over the site.
Last year in August, Tegel, Berlin’s busiest airport, was briefly closed after the discovery of a Russian World War Two bomb. In September, patients of Frankfurt hospitals were evacuated to allow the controlled explosion of another bomb.