British army bomb disposal experts were on Tuesday (March 24) working to make safe a massive unexploded World War Two bomb discovered on a central London building site, police said.
The 1000 lb (454 kilos) explosive measured five feet (1.5 meters) long and had a tail fin was discovered during construction work on Monday (March 23).
Over a thousand residents were evacuated from within a 200-metre safety cordon around the Bermondsey site, with many offered accommodation in an emergency rest center.
One local resident using the services set up by the local council at a leisure center was confident the army would defuse the explosive.
“It’s a big bomb, yeah, but I think the bomb people know what they are doing, you know, they’ve got extensive training, I think it’s highly unlikely it’s going to go off because both the bomb squad for the police and the bomb squad for the army, they know exactly what they’re doing,” Melina Kakoulidis said.
Another resident who had left her home said she didn’t mind the inconvenience.
“It wasn’t inconvenient, it wasn’t too bad, it could have been a lot worse, but, but, I’d rather that than – I’m safe, I know I’m safe here, it’s better to be hordes of people in here, but it doesn’t seem too bad,” Lilian Ellis said.
A leaflet given to residents by the Metropolitan Police warned the bomb was extremely dangerous.
“If the bomb explodes, buildings in the 200-metre zone will be significantly damaged and those close to the bomb will be destroyed. Remaining in your home is placing your life at significant risk,” the leaflet read.
Another local resident said she would rather be safe than sorry.
“My son checked online and he says, well, it’s one of those World War Two bombs, it’s probably not very dangerous, but then it’s better to be safe than sorry, listen to instructions. Police people say it is dangerous, it has the tendency to shatter buildings, so I don’t want to be shattered.”
The work to remove and make safe the bomb was expected to continue throughout Tuesday.
Lying just south of the river Thames, Bermondsey was heavily bombed during the WW2 blitz of London because of its proximity to the local dock areas and the main railway lines.
Wartime bombs are regularly found in London.
The London Fire Brigade said seven unexploded bombs had been found in the capital over the past five years.
(Reuters)
