big sections of central Frankfurt , Germany were evacuate on Sunday in preparation for authorities to defuse a World War II - era , 1.4 - net ton HC 4000 aviation mine , with CNN reportingat least 60,000 peoplewere necessitate to bequeath the country while the bomb defusal operation proceeds .

Take a large sigh of relief and rub that bead of sweat off your brow : The bomb wassuccessfully defused , but still needs to be move out from the area with utmost caution , grant to Deutsche Welle .

Weltkriegsbombe#Frankfurt

Argentina’s President Javier Milei (left) and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., holding a chainsaw in a photo posted to Kennedy’s X account on May 27. 2025.

2 . Zünder entfernt- Sprengkapsel jedoch noch nicht . Situation noch immer gefährlich . Entschärfung rückt näher!pic.twitter.com / E4bNymopBP

— Polizei Frankfurt ( @Polizei_Ffm)September 3 , 2017

The atmosphere mine , one of the largest varieties of ordnance used during the war , is of a character sometimes referred to as a smash hit due to its ability to destroy total rows of buildings . It was presumptively dropped during the 1939 - 1945 atmosphere war the Allies waged on Nazi Germany , and was only discovered duringrecent construction workafter sitting underground for at least 72 years .

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“ This bomb has more than 1.4 metric ton of explosives , ” Frankfurt fire department gaffer Reinhard Ries tell , grant to ABC News . “ It ’s not just fragments that are the problem , but also the pressure that it create that would dismantle all the buildings in a 100 - metre wheel spoke . ”

accord to the BBC , the evacuation zone contained “ 20 retirement dwelling house , an opera house house , and Germany ’s fundamental bank building where half the country ’s gilded reserves are put in . ”

“ We want to avoid not being capable to return to these building on Monday good morning , ” Ries add together . “ That would create a very unmanageable place for Frankfurt . ”

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Experts estimatethousands of lashings of explosivesfrom World War II - era intensity bombardment still remain scattered around Germany , holdout from the estimated 2.7 million oodles of bombs Allied air forces dropped to resect Nazi military and industrial capacity . According to Smithsonian , authorities divulge approximately 2,000 tons of explosives a yr , and from 2000 - 2016 , 11 bomb technicians were killed in failed defusal attempts .

Just the Clarence Day before , authoritiesevacuated 20,000 in provision to defuse a US - made turkey in the city of Koblenz .

One town , Oranienburg , host Nazi chemical facilities , aircraft fabrication plant life , railway junctions and an S.S. arms storage , according toDeutsche Welle , lead the Allies to drop more than 10,000 bomb on the area . Technical University of Cottbus dud expert Wolfgang Spyra secern the newsworthiness federal agency he estimated seven to 15 percent of the bombs were duds , meaning hundreds still laid under the town .

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explosive used in World War II - era Allied gun were in the main static enough to remain dangerous for long amounts of time , though other components of the bombs often degrade , making them peculiarly hazardous to try and defuse .

“ The plate of this bomb is overpowering , ” Ries state , per CNN . “ I have never get word anything like it . ”

[ CNN ]

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