Germany evacuates 81,000 people to tackle WW II bombs

Around 21,000 people had to leave the area in Koblenz as the 500 kg bomb was successfully defused, before the fire brigade allowed residents to return to their homes. The operation came a day before three times as many people must leave their homes in Frankfurt to allow for a Royal Air Force bomb to be neutralised, in the biggest evacuation of its kind in postwar Germany. 

The British bomb found in central Frankfurt weighs 1.8 tonnes and its disposal, planned for Sunday, has prompted a much larger evacuation protocol, affecting more than 60,000 residents. The city said police will enforce a 1,500-metre radius evacuation zone starting early Sunday and residents will probably need to stay away until 8pm. Seven decades after the end of the Second World War, unexploded bombs from intense Allied raids on Nazi Germany are still occasionally found in building sites, forests and fields and sometimes even in private gardens.