WWII bomb sees 8,000 evacuated in Dusseldorf

BERLIN: Around 8,000 people were being evacuated and roads to the airport closed on Thursday after a WWII bomb was discovered by construction workers in the western German city of Dusseldorf.

The exclusion zone has been expanded to 1 kilometre, the city administration said during the night.

“There will definitely be traffic chaos,” a spokesman for the city administration said early on Thursday.

The A52 and A44 motorways are affected, which means Dusseldorf airport is only accessible indirectly.

In a statement, the airport asked all travellers to allow an extra two hours for their journey to the airport.

Efforts to defuse the bomb are due to begin as soon as the danger area has been evacuated.

“We expect the defusing will then be able to go ahead in the early afternoon,” the city spokesman said.

The defusing could also affect flights at Dusseldorf Airport.

The possibility that air traffic would have to be temporarily interrupted while the bomb is defused could not be ruled out, an airport spokeswoman said on Thursday morning.

The bomb has a chemicalmechanical detonator which is “quite dangerous,” the police said during the night.

The possibility that the bomb will have to be detonated on site cannot be ruled out, they said.