The largest bomb ever found in Slovakia was successfully defused by police sappers in the Nitra Region with the assistance of experts from the Institute of Forensic Science and Forensic Medicine of the Bratislava Police Corps and employees of the national Fire and Rescue Corps. This was announced by the Nitra Region Police Department, quoted by the Slovak news agency TASR, reports BTA.
The anti-ship mine was discovered on Sunday in the Danube River, near the village of Virt, near Komarno in the Nitra Region, after the river level dropped. The ammunition was spotted by a passerby, who immediately notified the police. The authorities have taken all necessary safety measures, including temporarily suspending navigation on this section of the Danube.
The 700-kilogram mine was loaded by sappers onto a specially modified fire department vehicle with a sand bed to ensure its safe transportation. The ammunition was then taken to a pre-determined safe location, where experts placed it in a pit approximately five meters deep.
The mine was defused by a controlled explosion in strict compliance with all safety measures.
According to the information currently available, it is a British anti-ship mine from World War II, which most likely fell on the territory of present-day Slovakia during Operation “Gardening“ in 1944, when the Royal Air Force mined the Danube River in order to cut off the supply routes of enemy forces.