NEARLY 20,000 people were ordered to evacuate parts of Berlin after two unexploded World War 2 bombs were unearthed in the German capital.
Police sealed off the busy Mitte tourist district Thursday night after divers discovered a massive bomb under four metres of water in the Spree river.
Shutterstock EditorialHotel guests stranded in the streets of Berlin after two WW2 bombs were unearthed[/caption]
@polizeiberlinA map shared by the Berlin Police shows the evacuation zone near the Spree river[/caption]
Shutterstock EditorialPolice sent the alert on Thursday night, cordoning off different districts in the German capital[/caption]
Officials declared residents in the Fischerinsel island neighbourhood were in “mortal danger” and told 7,500 people to leave their homes immediately.
Meanwhile, a separate 100kg bomb was found in Spandau, in Berlin’s west, a day before the Mitte discovery.
That device is due to be defused today, forcing 12,000 more people from their homes.
Berlin cops confirmed early Friday the evacuation of the 500-metre Mitte exclusion zone was complete.
“All persons are requested to immediately leave the restricted area,” they had warned in a late-night post on X, adding that security measures would last through the night.
The lockdown shut government offices, embassies, and Berlin’s city hall, while boat traffic on the Spree was suspended.
Subways and streets were closed, and long queues formed at emergency shelters in Mitte town hall and a nearby school, DW reported.
“We just want to sleep, it’s unbearable,” one father told Tagesspiegel as he queued with his child.
A city hall employee tried to calm residents, promising they “will be home for breakfast.”
Police said a forensics team will decide “whether and when it will be defused,” according to The Telegraph.
The discoveries highlight the grim legacy of Berlin’s wartime past.
The city was hit by 363 Allied air raids, and unexploded bombs are still regularly unearthed.
In 2024 alone, 1,600 bombs were defused in North Rhine-Westphalia.
This June, Cologne evacuated 20,000 people after three wartime bombs were found.
Large parts of Cologne’s city centre, including hospitals, care homes and a hotel, were cordoned off as experts tried to defuse the explosives.
In France, a 660-pound WW2 bomb brought Eurostar trains to and From Paris’ Gare du Nord to a chaotic halt in March.
Shutterstock EditorialOne bomb was found under four metres of water in the Spree near Fischerinsel, prompting a large evacuation[/caption]
Shutterstock EditorialA separate 100kg bomb was discovered in Spandau, leading to 12,000 more people evacuating their homes[/caption]
The massive explosive was found “in the middle of the tracks” by workmen doing overnight maintenance.
Pictures showed the giant bomb enveloped in crusty layers of dirt and dust from the decades it stayed hidden away.
The disruption affected local metro services as well as national and international trains, including Eurostar and TGV.
Around 700,000 people use the busy station every day, meaning thousands of journeys were disrupted by the bomb.
Ordnance from both World Wars is still regularly found around France, especially in building works, and is known as “the Iron Harvest”.
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Shutterstock EditorialCops said a forensics team will decide ‘whether and when’ the bombs will be defused[/caption]