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Darmstadt (dpa / lhe) - week after week, explosive remains from the Second World War are discovered in Hessen.

Grenades, rifle ammunition or aerial bombs: According to an assessment by the Darmstadt regional council, which is responsible for all of Hesse, around 100 tons of the dangerous contaminated sites were rendered harmless in 2020.

This was announced by the authority in a preliminary balance sheet at the request of the German Press Agency.

By the end of November, 27 large bombs and more than 1,600 other ammunition had been discovered.

The 500-kilo bomb recently defused in Frankfurt is not included here.

Around 130 tons of ammunition were rendered harmless throughout 2019.

In the previous years it was also around 100 tons.

However, due to the corona virus, there were probably fewer ammunition finds in 2020 than in years without a pandemic.

According to the regional council, several planned permanent clearing sites were interrupted.

The Ministry of the Interior instructed that there should be no targeted bomb search within a radius of 1000 meters around clinics, especially those with corona intensive care units.

"A bomb discovery and the recovery of these ordnance by the ordnance disposal service could result in extensive evacuation measures of particularly vulnerable people in intensive care units, which must be avoided in the current security situation," says the instruction.

Due to the expected calming of the corona situation, a larger amount of ammunition can be expected in the coming year.

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For a few months now, three defusers have been working for the ordnance disposal service.

Preliminary inquiries, for example about aerial photo evaluation in advance of construction work, would pile up.

Anyone who wants to work as a ordnance clearer in Hesse needs a certificate of competence in accordance with the Explosives Act.

Applicants must have specialist knowledge of clearing and ammunition technology.

You need to know how the ammunition works and works.

They must be informed about the scope and objectives of ammunition use in the First and Second World War and also have experience in defusing, destroying or transporting such weapons.

In 2020 too, thousands of people had to leave their homes again and again during bomb disposal.

In Frankfurt there were around 13,000 at the beginning of December. Several bombs were discovered one after the other on the site of a former barracks in Hanau alone.

The explosion of World War I ammunition was probably also responsible for a forest fire near Mörfelden-Walldorf near Frankfurt Airport.

The flames blazed for days.

According to the responsible forest office, 19 hectares need to be reforested.

And even in your free time you are not immune to ammunition finds.

While fishing with a magnet, a man pulled a live hand grenade out of the Rhine in Wiesbaden in May.

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Ordnance clearance service

Instructions from the Ministry of the Interior