An 800-meter area will be evacuated to allow authorities to defuse a 500-kilogram bomb from World War II. Police said there was no immediate danger from the unexploded bomb.German police said an area including Berlin’s central train station would be evacuated on Friday to defuse a 500-kilogram World War II aerial bomb found during construction work on Wednesday.
Police wrote on Twitter that the bomb was in a safe condition and there was no immediate danger but all buildings within 800 meters of the site had to be evacuated from 9 a.m. on Friday as a precaution.
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The Berlin Fire Department also posted on Twitter saying it was meeting with Berlin police to discuss the plan for defusing the bomb.
The aerial bomb was discovered during construction work on Heidestrasse in Mitte. More than 70 years after the end of World War II, it is not uncommon for unexploded bombs to be in this way in Germany.
Thousands of bombs still lie beneath German cities and often require temporary evacuations when discovered.
Traffic interruptions expected
The central station falls just inside the evacuation area, according to the Berliner Morgenpost, and is a major stop for long-distance trains.
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It was not clear on Wednesday how severely the evacuation would affect transport but police asked that commuters please follow the instructions of authorities on the day.
A Deutsche Bahn spokesperson said they were preparing for interruptions to traffic.
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law/sms (AP, dpa)
