All Clear In Berlin After 220-Pound WWII-Era Bomb Is Defused

All Clear In Berlin After 220-Pound WWII-Era Bomb Is Defused
By Mark Memmott
NPR News



From Berlin, NPR's tells us that:

An unexploded bomb from World War II was successfully defused Wednesday. Its discovery Tuesday night near the city's main railway station forced trains to divert and snarled traffic in the German capital.

Weighing about 220 pounds, the aerial bomb was found at a construction site near railway tracks north of the station. Police evacuated more than 800 people from nearby apartment buildings and homes Wednesday morning as experts worked.

The main railway station is walking distance from the German parliament and chancellor's building, although those buildings were not affected. But some 50 trains had to be re-routed or cancelled, causing massive delays. Flights were grounded for 45 minutes at Berlin's Tegel airport while the bomb was defused.

Thousands of unexploded WWII-era bombs are believed to be buried in Germany. In 2010, three people were killed when one accidentally exploded.

Reuters reports it was a Russian bomb.