Posted on 06/02/2010 8:36:20 AM PDT by darkside321
Three people have been killed and six injured trying to defuse a World War II bomb in central Germany.
Workers building a sports stadium had earlier unearthed the bomb in the town of Goettingen.
It was not immediately clear why the bomb, reportedly weighing 500kg (1,100lb), had detonated.
Unexploded WWII bombs dropped by Allied planes are frequently found in Germany, though it is unusual for them to explode unexpectedly.
A special commission is investigating the causes of the explosion, while prosecutors are considering whether the team leader should face charges of manslaughter through culpable negligence, the BBC's Oana Lungescu reports from Berlin.
The blast happened an hour before the defusing operation was due to start.
Officials said the three men who died were experienced sappers, or combat engineers, who over 20 years had defused up to 700 bombs.
More than 7,000 people were immediately evacuated when the 500kg bomb was found. Several schools, a kindergarten and local companies remain closed.
Last week, another device was successfully defused close to the site.
In Berlin, four bombs have been found in the past two months, including one near the capital's main airport.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
Yikes. RIP.
In the glorious days of cheap mechanical watches, a shake or a smack would set them ticking again...
Funeral Director to women in black: I’m sorry Ma’am how did your son die so young?” Women: “He died from the allied bombings of WWII.” Funeral director: “I must admit I am not up on advances in science, I was unaware time travel was possible.”
And a lot of those duds just buried themselves into the ground. So it is not unusual for the old bombs to be discovered during construction, what is unusual, is this one detonated.
As I said in my original comment, it will be interesting to see if the “bomb tamers” screwed up of if they just ran up against a “cookie that was ready to cook off 65 years later”.
No matter what, brave men went into the pit to defuse the old bomb. Prayer up to their families.
“. . . and whoever said 1000kg was not being specific.”
The source article (BBC) stated it was a “500kg (1100 pound)” bomb. They included the weight in both metric and British-American. *If* that is correct — and I do not state it absolutely is — then it was either Russian or German. The US did not have 1100 pound bombs.
Remember I said “not if it is *really* a 500 kg bomb.” You are reinforcing my point.
Truly sad for the men and their families. R.I.P.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.