World

WWII bomb defused in Germany's Wolfsburg

4,000 local people evacuated from surrounding area and evacuation area

Xinhua July 08, 2018

A disarmed World War II bomb on the platform of a truck near Muehlheim Bridge in Cologne, on May 27, 2015. German authorities evacuated around 20,000 people from their homes until the bomb was disarmed on May 27, 2015.PHOTO: AFP

BERLIN: A World War II bomb found on the site of automaker Volkswagen in the German city of Wolfsburg had been defused by midday Sunday, according to the official twitter account of the Wolfsburg city.

The city tweeted around 1pm "The bomb is defused. The evacuation and road closures are lifted."

German media NDR reported that the bomb weighed 1,000 kilograms. Some 4,000 local people were evacuated from the surrounding area and the evacuation area measured about one kilometer around the site of the unexploded bomb.

Production at Volkswagen stood still during the defuse. Also during the bomb disposal, train traffic and shipping were affected. Rail passengers had to wait at least one hour for their trains.

World War II bombs force thousands to evacuate from German City

The long-distance traffic was diverted to other places and the vessel traffic on the Mittelland Canal was temporarily suspended.