GERMANY – Police say the driver of a construction vehicle was killed Friday when he struck a World War Two bomb which then exploded, during excavation work in Euskirchen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The massive blast injured eight others, 2 critically according to the dpa news agency.
Police say the blast damaged nearby office buildings and cars; blew out windows of some local shops and homes. The impact was reportedly felt .6 miles away.
According to BBC’s Damien McGuinness, unexploded bombs are still regularly being discovered in Germany, particularly in the industrial north-west of the country but it is rare that anyone is killed or injured by an unexpected detonation.
Although in a piece from National Geographic:
Experts say the problem will get worse before it gets better. For decades, bombs turned up during postwar building projects, sometimes with deadly results. That’s why construction projects in Germany today often require a Kampfmittelfreiheitsbescheinigung, or a permit certifying that the area is bomb-free, before work begins. Consultants pore over aerial photos from U.S. and British army archives for signs of unexploded ordnance.
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