UP to 20,000 people have been forced to evacuate a historic European city after three unexploded WW2 bombs were discovered.
Cologne’s city centre, along with hospitals, care facilities, and a hotel, has been closed off as specialists work to dismantle the explosives.
Police made sure to clear the entire 3,200ft “danger zone” which sat in the potential blast radius.
This left several schools, kindergartens, museums and even the local tram network being shut down for hours.
Three bridges over the famous river Rhine were also out of use.
The city’s major landmark, the Cologne Cathedral, was sat just outside of the danger area.
The bombs are all US-manufactured weapons from over 80 years ago.
Two are 90kg bombs with the third being a smaller 45kg weapon.
The trio are said to be equipped with impact fuzes which detonate when in contact with a hard surface.
They were first discovered on Monday on the right bank of the Rhine during building works near the Deutz shipworks.
Fenced off areas can be seen in photos from Cologne which are believed to be where bomb disposal experts are at work.
All of the explosives are due to safely removed by midday, officials confirmed.
Volunteers and police went around the city informing neighbours and business owners of the evacuation order.
This saw them ring doorbells and call through letter boxes.
Tents have been opened up by the council to help those stranded.
They contain food, refreshments and key support any resident may need, city authorities said.
It marked the largest evacuation of residents in the area since WW2.
Cologne is known for being one of the barbaric conflict’s most bombed areas.
It was hit by over 260 air raids carried out by the RAF.
About 20,000 people were killed in these bombing raids.
It comes as a 660-pound bomb from WW2 plunged the Eurostar into chaos in March.
Train services to and from Paris’ Gare du Nord were disrupted when workers conducting overnight maintenance discovered a large bomb on the tracks.
And in October 2024, a Japanese airport was forced to suspend all flights after a bomb exploded on the runway.
The Second World War weapon was buried under Miyazaki Airport before it unexpectedly blasted a hole through the ground.
Footage recorded by a nearby aviation school showed the blast spewing pieces of tarmac into the air.
The explosion left a crater about 23ft wide and 3ft deep on the runway, with more than 80 flights cancelled.
Unexploded WW2 bombs ‘getting more dangerous’, experts warn
By the Sun’s Assistant Technology and Science Editor, Charlotte Edwards
Experts have noted that the explosive substances found in bombs from the first and second world wars are becoming more unstable and prone to detonation, as per scientific analysis.
A new study focused on unused explosives from the Second World War has been published in the Royal Society Open Science journal.
The researchers found that a substance called Amatol can still cause the old bombs to explode if they’re dropped during disposal.
It went as far as to claim that unexploded bombs are actually getting more dangerous.
Amatol is a highly explosive substance and contains TNT and ammonium nitrate.
Researchers said: “Millions of tonnes of explosive remnants of war remain in nature and their volume is continuously growing.
“The explosive legacy of wars represents an increasing threat to the environment and societal safety and security.”
