A World War II bomb weighing 50 kilograms was defused in the Fechenheim industrial area on Wednesday night.

According to the police, the dud of American design was discovered early in the evening during demolition work on Carl-Benz-Strasse.

The forces cordoned off the site in a radius of 250 meters.

Local residents were asked to leave their homes immediately.

"Due to the design and condition of the bomb, the security authorities had to react quickly," said a police spokesman.

The Hanauer Landstraße was also closed, causing traffic delays.

Few residents affected

Since the area on Carl-Benz-Strasse is sparsely populated, only a few residents were affected.

The police spoke of a low double-digit range.

The evacuation went accordingly quickly.

Nevertheless, the police drove the entire area several times to make sure that nobody was actually in the vicinity of the discovery site.

The Frankfurt Transport Company (VGF) had set up a support center.

Residents were able to stay at the McDonalds at Hanauer Landstrasse 334 in a specially provided bus while the defusing lasted.

It initially started with a delay of about an hour, since the barriers were more complex than initially thought.

Around midnight, the defusers finally started their work.

Around 12:45 a.m., the message came that the explosive device had been defused. 

The Frankfurt fire brigade provided information via its Twitter account and referred to the website of the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance.

There was also a map showing the area that was closed.

Recommendations for action were also listed.

In this way, the danger area should be avoided over a wide area.