Three killed as World War Two bomb explodes in Germany
Germany is mourning the loss of three bomb disposal experts killed yesterday by a 2,000lb World War II aerial mine.
Three others were seriously injured by the explosion which occurred when a bomb disposal team was cutting through the acid fuse of the bomb buried 24ft down in the university city of Goettingen.
Fire brigade spokesman Frank Gloth said, 'Evacuation measures were far advanced for 7,200 people in a wide radius from where the bomb lay.
'Work was proceeding with a water cutter to get through the fuse of the bomb when it went off. It was due to be defused at 10.30pm but detonated at 9.45pm.‘Altogether, there were 13 bomb disposal workers in the area.’
Goettingen was bombed several times during World War II by both the RAF and American planes.
The bomb that killed the disposal team was being left until late to be made safe to allow an inter city express train to move through Goettingen station towards Hanover.Several houses had their fronts blown off by the blast. The bomb was found as builders dug the foundations for a new sports hall.
Germany remains contaminated with unexploded bombs that are becoming increasingly unstable with age.
In the whole of Germany, more than 2,000 tons of American and British aerial bombs and all sorts of munitions ranging from German hand grenades and tank mines to Russian artillery shells are recovered every year.The bomb which went off in Goettingen is of a type containing a vial of acetone which bursts on impact and is meant to trickle down and dissolve a celluloid disk that keeps back the cocked firing pin that then ignites the TNT inside.
Hans-Jürgen Weise, one of Germany’s most experienced bomb disposal experts, retired two years ago after four decades spent making Germany cities safe.
He warned in 2008 of the danger of rotting detonators. 'The last few years we’ve found that the detonators we take out of such bombs are increasingly brittle.
'We had three extracted detonators go off with a pissssh sound while they were being transported away, all it took was a bit of vibration.
'One day such bombs will be so sensitive that no one will be able to handle them.'8The bomb which went off in Goettingen is of a type containing a vial of acetone which bursts on impact and is meant to trickle down and dissolve a celluloid disk that keeps back the cocked firing pin that then ignites the TNT inside.
Hans-Jürgen Weise, one of Germany’s most experienced bomb disposal experts, retired two years ago after four decades spent making Germany cities safe.
He warned in 2008 of the danger of rotting detonators. 'The last few years we’ve found that the detonators we take out of such bombs are increasingly brittle.
'We had three extracted detonators go off with a pissssh sound while they were being transported away, all it took was a bit of vibration.
‘One day such bombs will be so sensitive that no one will be able to handle them.’
There’s a spectacular degree of pointlessness in deaths so far removed from the original purpose of the bomb.
Then again, it’s probably no more spectacularly pointless than the countless landmine victims in Africa and Asia
I read about this this morning, horrible. They’re going to have to start blowing everything in place…
Sure. I just thought it’s pretty disturbing to know that these things even get more dangerous after more than 65 years. The fact that even professionals blow themselves up is worrying…
From memory, the French lose one or two a year disposing of WW1 munitions, and the Belgians lose some too.