WWII bombs defused in Cologne after thousands evacuated
Over 20,000 people were evacuated from central Cologne after three unexploded World War II bombs were found, the biggest such operation in the German city since the end of the war.
Bomb squad technicians defused the three American explosives, two weighing 1,000kg and one weighing 500kg, having earlier set up an evacuation zone of about 10,000 square metres for 12 hours.
Road and train lines closed and city officials went door to door, sending over 20,500 people out of their homes and closing 58 hotels as well as numerous restaurants and businesses.
A hospital, two nursing homes, nine schools and a TV studio in the centre of the city were all evacuated.
Local authorities said weddings had to be relocated from Cologne's townhall, and a man was taken into custody after trying to break through a barrier and enter the zone.
The bombs had been found during building work on Monday in the Deutz area on the east bank of the River Rhine.
German construction sites have regularly unearthed unexploded World War II ordnance.
In Frankfurt, the discovery of a 1.4-tonne bomb in 2017 led to the removal of 65,000 people, the largest such evacuation in Europe since 1945.
In 2021 four people were injured when a World War II bomb exploded at a building site near Munich's main railway station, scattering debris over hundreds of metres.
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