Nearly 9,000 people were forced to leave their homes in Hanover because the unexploded 250-kilogram American World War II bomb found, city officials said in a statement.
The projectile was found at the construction site of the Hanover Medical School. Around 8:00 (10:00 Moscow time) on Saturday approximately 9 thousand people were evacuated. The bomb was successfully defused in the afternoon. Both detonators were successfully removed from the bomb and exploded in place.
More than 700 emergency services personnel participated in the operation. Residents were then able to return to their homes. All restrictive measures have been lifted.
According to rough estimates, at the end of the Second World War, more than 2 million bombs of various calibers were dropped on Nazi Germany, 10-20% of them did not explode. Every few months, workers building roads or laying foundations for new buildings discover shells. As a rule, such finds do not pose a threat to human life - the sappers neutralize them within a few hours.