Over 13,000 people were evacuated from their homes in the German city of Dortmund on Sunday following the discovery of World War Two bombs in a densely populated quarter of the city.
In order to facilitate the safe disposal of World War Two bombs, the disposal operation required that all residents, as well as hospital patients, be evacuated from the area. Train traffic from Dortmund Central Station and local public transport were temporarily discontinued.
Special disposals teams suspected that there were four suspected bombs in the city, however, searches revealed that two of the objects were not explosive, Deutsche Welle explains.
The other two devices, an American aerial bomb and a British aerial bomb, each weighing in and around 250 kilograms and presumably dropped by the Allies during World War Two, were successfully detonated on Sunday afternoon, reports Frankfurter Neue Presse.
The first bomb was located on Luisenstrasse and the second on Beurhausstrasse.
Immediately after the second bomb was detonated, the evacuation came to an end. By around 6:30 PM, residents were allowed to return to their homes.
Hinweis zu #DOBOMBE #DOBOMBE1201: Das Evakuierungsgebiet ist wieder freigegeben. Die Anwohnerinnen und Anwohner können an Ihre Wohnanschriften zurückkehren. Auch nach der Bombenentschärfung werden wir im zuvor evakuierten Bereich weiterhin Streife fahren. Ihre #Polizei #Dortmund
— Polizei NRW DO (@polizei_nrw_do) January 12, 2020
The evacuation was one of the largest in the history of the city.
Evie McCullough
The Brussels Times
