UK: Unexploded WWII bomb found in London

Record ID: 356300

  • Title: UK: Unexploded WWII bomb found in London
  • Date: 29th July 2007
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) HOWARD AINLEY, LOCAL RESIDENT, SAYING: "It's just there's been an unexploded World War II bomb found over by the new Millharbour development."
  • Embargoed: 13th August 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: History
  • Reuters ID: LVA6ZIGWHX8BI71BECHUKKETX2KE
  • Story Text: Police cordon off part of an east London residential area after construction workers find an unexploded World War II bomb.
    Police closed off streets near London's Canary Wharf financial district on Saturday (July 28) after an unexploded German flying bomb from World War Two was found on a construction site.
    Bomb disposal experts were called in to make the V1 missile safe after it was unearthed close to the east London complex that houses 80,000 office workers during the working week, police said.
    At weekends the area is busy with shoppers and visitors, who were for the most part unphased by the discovery, "It's just there's been an unexploded World War II bomb found over by the new Millharbour development," said local resident Howard Ainley.
    But for other local residents the cordoning off of streets caused considerable inconvenience, "I can't get to my wife who is disabled, and I can't get her off the island. They're stopping us getting to our homes. They're more worried about Canary Wharf going up than moving anyone out of their houses," said one resident.
    Police closed several roads around the site in Millharbour, a road in the former docklands.
    Thousands of V1s, nicknamed "Doodlebugs", were fired at the capital during the war, with the docks a prime target.
    Hundreds of unexploded bombs from the war are buried across the country, according to government figures. They are unearthed from time to time, often during building excavations.
    Canary Wharf's tenants include Bank of America, Barclays, Citigroup, HSBC, the Independent newspaper group and Reuters.
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