Structural damage was caused to several properties after a still active WWII bomb exploded near the University of Exeter in southern England on Saturday (27).
The explosion was checked by a demining team and, the area having been evacuated, there were no injuries.
According to local media reports, the doors and windows of neighboring houses were destroyed after the device exploded, which was identified as a nearly one-ton Hermann bomb used by the German Nazi army.
The device was discovered at a construction site at a private site west of the University of Exeter campus on Friday morning.
Some 2,600 residents and 1,400 university students were evacuated at the behest of the Navy’s demining team and had to sleep in hotels or with acquaintances – despite Covid-19 restrictions, the local government allowed travel and the visits.
Residents began returning home on Sunday evening (28). We are a family business.
The explosion occurred at 6:10 p.m. local time on Saturday and, to mitigate its impact, around 400 tons of sand were transported to the site and walls were erected.
After the explosion, the wreckage was hurled for at least 250 meters and a crater the size of a double-decker bus was opened.
In October of last year, the biggest WWII bomb ever found in Poland also exploded. The Tallboy bomb, used by the British Air Force and weighing nearly 5 tons, exploded underwater as Navy divers attempted to deactivate it.