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Hattingen: Bomb explodes more than 60 years on

It is not uncommon to find unexploded bombs during construction work here in Germany. A huge portion of Allied bombing in World War II failed to explode and continues to live as a “ticking” legacy. It is rare for a week to pass in this country without some area being cleared while a bomb is removed. Almost all disposals go without incident.

Not so this morning in Hattingen, which lies in the State of Nordrhein Westphalen: a bucket excavator struck a still functioning 500lb bomb, sending debris flying as far as a few hundred feet, and smashing many windows in the vicinity.

It is almost amazing no-one was killed or seriously hurt. 17 victims were accounted for, most of them suffering from explosion trauma.

WAZ has some pictures, and here is where it all happened.

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One Response to “Hattingen: Bomb explodes more than 60 years on”

  1. @rakeman on September 19th, 2008

    WW2 bomb goes off, injuring 17 (in English) http://is.gd/2QlR #hattingen

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    Welcome to Irakli West's personal pages on the Web. I am Danish, live close to Munich in Germany, and run FWnetz, an online magazine and training resource for firefighters. In real life, I am Regional Manager Northern Europe for Paratech and currently training to become a specialist in Urban Search and Rescue as well as Heavy Rescue (it's fun, challenging and serves a good purpose)

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