A total of 14,000 people were evacuated from the town of Lublin in eastern Poland on Friday to make room for military experts to remove a sizable unexploded bomb that was likely dropped during World War II.
Later on Friday, city officials announced on the X platform that the device had been successfully removed and that residents could go home. The evacuation was assisted by the police, Territorial Defense soldiers, and city transportation.
After that, military engineers removed the weapon for detonation, according to Katarzyna Duma, a spokeswoman for the town hall.
To ensure the bomb was transported safely, local roads were shut down.
According to Kamil Golebiowski, a spokesman for the Lublin police, military specialists consider it to be an aerial bomb from World War II, but they need to study it more extensively to be certain.
The people were taken to safety at the Lublin Arena, care facilities, and a high school that was closed for the summer, according to Duma, who spoke to The Associated Press.
Residents were advised to leave their homes’ gas, water, and electricity off, shut the windows and doors, and take their identification and any required medications with them.
The 250-kilogram (550-pound) bomb was discovered by construction workers Thursday when they were constructing a new residential neighborhood. Before World War II, the area included Polish airplane manufacturing and an airport and was a potential target for bombers.
There was a prison and a labor camp there while it was occupied by Nazi Germany, and at one point, items taken from Jews were organized there. In Poland, a country that had intense warfare during World War II, bombs are still frequently discovered when doing excavation work.
These accidents are more frequent now that Poland’s economy is expanding and there is a construction boom.
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