BREAKING: Thousands to be evacuated after bomb discovered in Wesel, Germany

CLOSE to eight thousand residents are set to be evacuated from Wesel, Germany on Thursday, July 7 after a US-made ten-ton bomb was discovered on a construction site in the city centre late on Wednesday, July 6.

The bomb in Wesel was discovered on a construction site on Kettlerstraße not far from the pedestrian zone, local media reported.

Around 8,000 people will be forced to leave their homes, while shops will be closed within a 500-metre radius of the discovery site and two retirement homes have already been evacuated. The defusing of the bomb is planned for 4 pm (local time).

People in a radius of between 500 metres and 1,000 metres are to remain indoors for the duration of the defusing operation, according to nrz.de.

Police will monitor the safety radius, which includes a further 15,141 who live in the extended radius around the site where the bomb was found.

The retirement homes – Willibrodiplatz and Martini-Stift – were evacuated almost immediately following the discovery of the bomb.

“This was a demanding task,” Wesel’s fire chief Thomas Verbeet said.

“Since yesterday evening and almost all night, preparations have been underway, many helpers from the surrounding municipalities have come to Wesel to assist with the transport of the elderly.

“All of them are trained in dealing with patients,” Verbeet said.

He added: “Around 100 emergency vehicles initially meet at the North School Centre to organise the evacuation from there.

“Since all relief workers are tied up with this and with transporting non-mobile people out of the evacuation zone, all residents in the inner radius have to leave their homes independently on time.

“The Marien Hospital will not be evacuated, patients will be moved to the side facing away from the bomb site,” he concluded.

This is the second bomb to have been found in Wesel as on June 20 a five-ton bomb was defused on Fusternberger Straße.

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