BERLIN, Nov. 28 — Around 6,000 people were temporarily evacuated from their homes in the German city of Cologne on Thursday evening as authorities worked to defuse two unexploded WWII bombs.
The bombs were found during exploratory surveying work.
A 500-meter safety perimeter was established, and roughly 220 personnel from the fire department, the public order office, and other agencies were deployed.
Roads had been closed since Thursday afternoon.
Several hours passed between the start of the evacuation and the actual defusal due to the large number of people affected.
At 1:20 a.m. local time on Friday (0020 GMT), the city announced that both pieces of unexploded ordnance had been safely defused.
All road closures were lifted, residents were allowed to return home, and the defused bombs were transported away for removal.
Before the defusal, a major railway line had been shut down, forcing long-distance, regional and freight trains to be temporarily rerouted.
Train and tram services later resumed without restrictions. (Namibia Daily News/Xinhua)
