A bomb dropped by the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) during World War II was safely detonated Sunday in a Frankfurt river.
German news agency dpa reports the munition was defused, as planned, underwater. The disposal led to a loud detonation and water fountain on the river. Police told dpa “the bomb is no longer a danger.”
Divers with the city’s fire service were participating in a routine training exercise when they found the 250kg (550lb) device. Parts of the old town around Frankfurt Cathedral were affected, as well as the opposite bank of the Main.
An image posted on social media showed what appeared to be a large water fountain jetting into the air between two bridges.
It is not uncommon for bombs and other war munitions to turn up in Germany.
In 2017, German police defused a 1.4 ton World War II bomb (HC 4000 air mine) in central Frankfurt, after some 60,000 people were evacuated.
Dieter Schwetzler (R) and Rene Bennert (L) of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Division pose next to the World War II bomb they defused in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, on September 03, 2017. More than 60,000 people were evacuated after the 1.4-ton World War II bomb (HC 4000 air mine) was discovered on a construction site close to the Goethe University Frankfurt compound. (THOMAS LOHNES/AFP/Getty Images)
The heavy munition of was dropped by British bombers ina night raid and contained 1.4 tons of explosives.
Officials described the resulting evacuation as Germany’s biggest, though similar operations are still common more than 70 years after the war ended. In May of the same year, for example, around 50,000 people had to leave their homes in Hannover temporarily for a bomb disposal.
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