By John Ikani
Four people were injured when an old aircraft bomb exploded at a bridge near Munich’s busy main train station on Wednesday, Dec 1, police said on Twitter, raising the number of wounded from three earlier.
A column of smoke was seen rising from the site near the Donnersbergerbruecke station. The construction site for a new commuter train line is located on the approach to Munich’s central station, which is a bit over a kilometer (about a half-mile) to the east.
As a result, rail traffic in much of Munich was brought to a standstill.
More than 2,000 tonnes of live bombs and munitions are discovered each year in Germany, more than 70 years after the end of World War Two.
British and American warplanes pummelled the country with 1.5 million tonnes of bombs that killed 600,000 people.
Officials estimate that 15 per cent of the bombs failed to explode, some of which were buried six meters deep in the ground.
Bavaria’s State Interior Minister, Joachim Herrmann, said the 250-kilogram (550-pound) bomb was found during drilling work, German news agency dpa reported.
Herrmann said authorities must now investigate why it wasn’t discovered earlier. He noted that such construction sites are usually scanned carefully in advance for possible unexploded bombs.
“It has to be investigated why no-one spotted this bomb earlier,” Mr Herrmann told German media.
