A WWII aerial bomb discovered in the Rhine has been defused in Koblenz on Wednesday. According to the city, the 500-kilogram unexploded device was found on Thursday during construction work for a new bridge, aboard a dredging vessel.
Bomb disposal experts defused the find on the ship on Wednesday, with around 1,100 people affected by evacuation measures in the meantime.
According to city officials, the dredging vessel carrying the unexploded bomb had been moved to the Gülser Moselbogen area on the southwestern outskirts of the city for the defusing operation, as relocating the bomb was deemed too dangerous by disposal experts.
An evacuation radius of one kilometer was enforced around the vessel, which encompassed parts of the Koblenz district of Lay. A campsite, a railway line and federal roads were also affected.
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