Countless duds from the Second World War are recovered in Germany every year. Usually everything goes smoothly and the bombs are defused. But now a bad accident occurred on a construction site in Munich.
Several people were injured in the explosion of an aerial bomb from World War II on Wednesday. The detonation occurred on a Deutsche Bahn construction site near the Donnersbergerbrücke, the police said. Four people were injured, one of them seriously, said a fire department spokesman.
The rail traffic to and from Munich had to be temporarily completely stopped, there were considerable delays in local and long-distance traffic. The railway said that there could be further restrictions. Experts from the ordnance disposal service were included in the investigation. They were able to give the all-clear on Wednesday afternoon, which is why the train traffic could start again.
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Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) was at the scene of the accident at noon to get an idea of the situation. An aerial bomb weighing 250 kilograms was hit during drilling, said Herrmann, who wished the injured a good recovery.
Why the bomb was not discovered in advance is still unclear. Normally, during construction work in downtown Munich, it is always carefully and regularly probed where duds could be.
As a fire department spokesman said, the construction workers were busy with drilling work in the ground. According to the police, it was tunnel work. In doing so, they would have drilled through the 250 kilogram aerial bomb – a dud – and caused it to explode.
Three of the workers were injured, and one of them was taken to the hospital’s emergency room. During the rescue work, another injured person reported who was slightly injured by flying parts, said the fire department spokesman. The force of the detonation also overturned a wheel loader.
The Donnersbergerbrücke is not far from the main train station in the center of Munich on the main route of the Munich S-Bahn. Numerous fire engines and around 50 emergency services were on site, a federal police helicopter circled over the area. (AFP, dpa)
