Tens of thousands of residents of Germany’s financial capital, Frankfurt, evacuated their homes yesterday ahead of the planned defusing of a massive World War II bomb discovered on a building site.
Bomb technicians had been scheduled to begin work shortly after noon, but the fire department said there were delays as some people refused to leave.
Helicopters with heat-sensing cameras circled to spot stragglers and police chiefs said they would use force if necessary to clear the area, warning that an uncontrolled explosion would be big enough to flatten a city block.
Photo: Reuters
About 60,000 people were ordered to leave in what was Germany’s biggest evacuation since the war, with more than 1,000 emergency service workers helping to clear the area.
A steady flow of people filed into a temporary shelter at Frankfurt’s trade fair site, with bananas and beverages on offer. Others sat in cafes on the edge of the evacuation zone.
The device was found last week in the city’s leafy Westend neighborhood, home to many wealthy bankers. The evacuation area includes the Bundesbank, where US$70 billion in gold reserves are stored.
Police set up cordons around the evacuation area, which covered a radius of 1.5km.
Premature babies and intensive care patients had to be evacuated along with everyone else from two hospitals, and rescue workers helped about 500 elderly people leave residences and care homes.
Bomb disposal experts were to use a special system to try and unscrew the fuses attached to the HC 4,000 bomb from a safe distance. If that fails, a water jet was to be used to cut the fuses.
The bomb was dropped by Britain’s Royal Air Force during the war, city officials said.
British and US warplanes pummeled the country with 1.5 million tonnes of bombs that killed 600,000 people. Officials estimate 15 percent of the bombs failed to explode, some burrowing 6m deep.
More than 2,000 tonnes of live bombs and munitions are found each year in Germany, even under buildings.
Roads and transport systems were to remain closed during the work and for at least two hours afterwards to allow patients to be transported back to hospitals.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary