Thousands of people in central Berlin were ordered to evacuate on Thursday evening after an was discovered in the Spree River.
Police have set up a security perimeter of 500 meters in a thickly populated area in the center of the German capital. Officers went door to door within the security perimeter to inform residents of the evacuation order.
Berlin’s Tagespiegel newspaper reported long lines at an emergency overnight shelter at the town hall in the Berlin Mittle district, with hundreds of people reported waiting to register for a place to spend the night. Another shelter at a nearby school was opened shortly after midnight to accommodate the high number of people.
The neighborhood is also home to several embassies and city administration offices.
Bomb disposal expected early Friday morning
Authorities said the bomb was discovered during construction work near the Fischerinsel in central Berlin. Checking for unexploded ordnance from World War II is ahead of large construction projects.
Police said the bomb will be defused in the early morning hours when divers will be able to carry out a closer inspection. The bomb is under four meters of water, and is covered in silt and slime, which complicates the operation, police said.
Residents are expected to be allowed to return to their homes on Friday morning.
Until then, ship traffic on the Spree, which runs through the city, remains halted. Streets have also been closed and service on subway line 2 has been suspended.
Thursday’s bomb disposal evacuation is one of the largest in Berlin in recent years.
Edited by: Roshni Majumdar
The post Germany: Thousands evacuated in Berlin after WWII bomb find appeared first on Deutsche Welle.
