WWII-era bomb in Germany successfully defused

BERLIN – A massive British World War II-era bomb that triggered the evacuation of about half of the 107,000 residents of Germany’s western city of Koblenz was successfully defused Sunday, authorities said.

It was one of Germany’s biggest bomb-related evacuations since the war ended with some 2,500 police officers, firefighters and paramedics on duty across the city to secure the operation.

Experts successfully defused the British 1.8-ton bomb and a 275-pound U.S. bomb that had been discovered last month after the Rhine river’s water level fell significantly due to a prolonged lack of rain, said Heiko Breitbarth, a spokesman for Koblenz’s firefighters.

Some 45,000 residents living within a radius of about 1.2 miles from the bomb site, had to leave their houses early Sunday before the evacuation order was lifted in the evening, the city said on its website. Among those ordered to evacuate were seven nursing homes, two hospitals and a prison with some 200 inmates.

The British bomb could have caused massive damage if it exploded.

Authorities in Koblenz had set up shelters for the evacuees and used buses to carry them to safety.