GERMANY: With the evacuation of almost half of the population of the city of Koblenz underway, disposal experts are turning their attention to making safe a near two-tonne World War Two-era British 'blockbuster'bomb

Record ID: 357437

  • Title: GERMANY: With the evacuation of almost half of the population of the city of Koblenz underway, disposal experts are turning their attention to making safe a near two-tonne World War Two-era British 'blockbuster'bomb
  • Date: 5th December 2011
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF POLICE BLOCKING STREET INTO EVACUATION ZONE EMPTY SHOPPING STREET WITH POLICE (SOUNDBITE) (German) KOBLENZ RESIDENT RAINER MERZBACH, SAYING: "We have to go through this, we have experienced situations like this before, so it has to be accepted." (SOUNDBITE) (German) KOBLENZ RESIDENT THEO SCHNEIDER, SAYING: "It's just like it is, you know that the Rhine (rive
  • Embargoed: 20th December 2011 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany, Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: War / Fighting,History
  • Reuters ID: LVA7A6FN7SR7OPNAGQFJGI9LSUW6
  • Story Text: The discovery of a Second World War bomb in the German town of Koblenz on Sunday (December 4) forced the evacuation of almost half of its population.
    The 1.8 tonne British munition had been recently found in the river Rhine due to falling water levels. Bomb disposal expert Marco Ofenstein explained the high risks of its removal. "We have a British detonator, which was surrounded by water for a long time and the explosives within the detonator react with water over the time, which causes a high risk when the detonator is being removed," Ofenstein said.
    Before the go ahead, around 45,000 residents had to be cleared from within the evacuation zone with a radius of 1.8 kilometres. Temporary accommodation was set up in schools.
    "We have to evacuate all the private addresses and retirement homes, about 350 operations. We have 600 people working on that at the moment and 400 people at the evacuation centres," Volker Grabe of the German Red Cross in Koblenz explained.
    People in the centre in town took their evacuation with patience. "We have to go through this, we have experienced situations like this before, so it has to be accepted," Rainer Merzbach from Koblenz said.
    Theo Schneider assumed that there were more WW II bombs to be found in the river Rhine.
    "It's just like it is, you know that the Rhine (river) is full of bombs, at least I assume it. The falling water levels, who knows how many bombs are still in there," he said.
    Dorothea Zehe said she was a bit anxious, but hoped for the best.
    "I am a bit of an anxious person, so I am glad when it's over. You have to see how to get the day over. Normally we have plans, go hiking or so.
    Everything is closed, you can't go anywhere, the cafes and everything. But it will be over soon, hopefully in a good way," she said.
    After the disposal of the bomb, bus shuttles are set up for the residents to return to their homes and people from hospitals, retirement homes or jails will be moved back to their facilities.
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