The Berlin Police had warned and created a mass evacuation after a World War II bomb was found at a construction site in central Berlin. The disposal of the 500kg bomb was done successfully by the experts. The evacuation had begun at 9 am in the morning with about 10,000 people shifted. The police gave an all clear sign in the afternoon and things came back to normal. "A short bang - there was a controlled explosion of the detonator away from the bomb," the police said to the BBC. "Everything went smoothly without complications, and by the book," they stated. The disposal was done by 1 pm.

The bomb was found near construction work in Heidestrasse. A mass evacuation was initiated for the safe disposal. The evacuation had caused transportation chaos in the city for a while. The evacuation area included the Natural History Museum, the BND intelligence agency, a clinic of the Charite hospital and an army hospital. Roads leading to the area were also closed but were gradually opened in the afternoon.

It has been decades since the World War II but the ammunitions are still found every year. Berlin turned to ruins in 1945 but i is said that almost 3000 bombs lie unexploded under the land. Faulty fuses, poor assembly and bad angle of impact are some of the reasins cited for the unexplosions. So such evacuations for bomb disposal are quite common and in fact the sqauds now know the technique of removal and defusing them well.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 21, 2018 11:40 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).