German disposal experts successfully defused two World War II bombs discovered in the western German city of Dortmund on Sunday. Around 14,000 residents were evacuated from their homes prior to the operation.
The bombs were 250 kilograms (550 pounds) and were successfully deactivated on Sunday. The incident took place after officials shut down the city’s main train station and ordered thousands of people to leave their homes before they began the bomb removal operation, Deutsche Welle reported.
Authorities initially said that the special disposal team had found four unexploded bombs from World War II in the clinic quarter, a highly-populated area. However, they later confirmed the existence of only two potentially explosive bombs.
As part of the preparation for the bomb removal, the authorities of Dortmund, which is Germany’s ninth-largest city, evacuated residents from the surrounding areas and patients from two hospitals.
A receptionist at a hospital in Dortmund told Deutsche Welle that they had redistributed patients to other hospitals and people to other buildings.
In addition to the hospitals and residential areas, the famous football museum of Dortmund was closed on Sunday.