(Adnkronos) – The German city of Cologne has launched its largest evacuation operation since 1945 due to the discovery of three American bombs dating back to the Second World War. Much of the city center has been closed to traffic to allow the unexploded ordnance to be defused. Over twenty thousand people are involved in the evacuation zone in the Deutz district, on the east bank of the Rhine, which covers a radius of about one kilometer. Authorities are checking that all apartments in the area at risk are empty and it could take several hours to make sure everyone is gone.
Throughout the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, between 1,500 and 2,000 unexploded bombs from World War II are found every year. About 200 of these are large devices, like those found in Cologne, said Kai Kulschewski, head of the city’s explosive ordnance disposal. The center of Cologne is the most densely populated in Europe, Ralf Mayer, head of the local Ordnungsamt, the agency in charge of enforcing the rules in public spaces, told public broadcaster Ard.
The evacuation zone includes a hospital, two nursing and care homes, numerous museums and the German headquarters of the broadcaster Rtl. Although not directly affected, the Cologne Cathedral, the symbol of Cologne, and the city’s main railway station are located directly opposite, on the other side of the Rhine, on the west bank, connected by the Hohenzollern Bridge, the busiest railway bridge in Germany, inside the evacuation zone.
