500kg bomb causes disruption at airport

Police and Royal Navy teams were due to work through the night to transport a 500kg Second World War bomb which has disrupted dozens of flights at London City Airport.

Bomb disposal experts were due to guide the 1.5m-long unexploded ordnance down the River Thames overnight using a flotation device, before attaching “high-grade military explosives” in a controlled blast this morning.

The German general purpose bomb was found grounded in the seabed 15 metres underwater at King George V Dock in east London on Sunday.

A 214-metre exclusion zone was in place yesterday. Robert Sinclair, chief executive of London City Airport, said the air transport hub would stay closed for the rest of the day. The airport is expected to reopen today.