German airport lockdown as 450kg aerial bomb discovered – Police prepare to defuse
A BOMB has been found at an airport in Hamburg, Germany, leading to a partial lockdown of the premises while emergency services prepare to defuse the device.
The 450kg aerial bomb was found at 2.38pm on Wednesday at the Airbus Hamburg-Finkenwerder airport, an aircraft manufacturing plant and associated private airfield in the southwest of the German city. An integral part of the Airbus-owned plant, it is exclusively used by the company for corporate, freight, test and delivery flights. A fire department spokesperson said: "The bomb has been moved to a natural sink where it is to be rendered harmless by the explosive ordnance disposal service."
The spokesperson added: "The operation is currently under preparation."
A radius of 150 metres surrounding the scene was locked down on the ground, while airspace was closed to a radius of 300 metres.
Meanwhile, two roads near the airport were shut in both directions and diversions were issued on several bus routes, Hamburg's public transport operator said.
Though police could not confirm how long measures would need to be in place, all restrictions were lifted as of 8.50pm local time after bomb disposal experts successfully blew up the detonator of the World War Two device.
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The incident revives memories of the discovery of another war-time bomb discovered in Hamburg in 2019.
The 500kg US artefact prompted the evacuation of around 6,000 people in a densely-populated residential area of the city.
Those living within a 500-metre radius of the bomb were ordered to leave, whereas those within a 1,000-metre radius were ordered to stay away from windows and remain in rooms not facing the find.
Specialists on site said the bomb's base fuse had been broken out of its seat, but the nose fuse was intact. A water-jet cutter was used to remove the nose fuse.
Unexploded wartime bombs are a regular occurrence in Germany, which was heavily bombed by Allied forces from 1939 to 1945, and most are defused by experts without exploding. That isn't, however, the case for all.
In December last year, four people were hurt, one seriously, when a World War Two bomb blew up on a railway construction site in Munich.
The fire brigade said it happened during drilling work near Donnersberger Bridge, close to the main station.
As a result, rail traffic in much of the Bavarian city was brought to a standstill.
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Local reports described a loud bang followed by a column of smoke, and an excavator was overturned by the force of the blast.
Emergency services rushed to the area and experts were quickly at the scene examining the remains of the bomb.
Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Hermann said the "aerial bomb" weighed 250kg, adding it had "to be investigated why no one spotted this bomb earlier".
In 2017, seventy thousand people had to leave their homes in Frankfurt when a 1.4-tonne British "blockbuster" bomb was discovered.