In the end, two bombs were defused. Explosive devices, dating from the Second World War, were neutralized Sunday in Dortmund, in the west of Germany, at the end of a vast operation which resulted in the evacuation of some 14,000 people, announced the town hall of the city. The evacuees will now be able to return home, added this city in the industrial region of the Ruhr on its Twitter account.
It announced on Saturday that it had identified four sites in a densely populated downtown area where unexploded bombs dropped by Allied air forces could be buried decades ago. The suspicions arose from "anomalies" detected during construction work.
Rail traffic disrupted
The two 250 kg bombs are of American and British origin. Only the latter two were defused, suspicions concerning two other explosive devices were not confirmed by the excavations.
Two hospitals were also evacuated on Sunday and rail traffic was interrupted.
The discovery of World War II bombs is common in Germany. In 2017, 65,000 people were evacuated, in the largest such operation since 1945, when a huge 1.4-tonne British bomb was discovered in Frankfurt. In September, a 250 kg machine was defused in Hanover, which required the evacuation of 15,000 people.
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