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Authorities in the German city of Cologne have evacuated three hospitals and thousands of homes after an unexploded World War II bomb was discovered during construction work on a new medical campus.
The 1,000kg US aerial bomb, fitted with a front and rear shock detonator, will be defused on Friday, The Guardian reports.
A complex evacuation procedure had been planned since excavation work began at the site about six months ago, due to fears that unexploded ordnance would be discovered there.
An evacuation zone of 500 meters has been created around the area where the bomb is located. City officials say experts have told them eight more unexploded aircraft bombs may be at the site, but that this can only be determined by further excavation.
Two hospitals were evacuated Thursday, while a third was cleared Friday morning, along with about 10,000 residents who were instructed to leave their homes, according to a city spokesman.
Patients were distributed to other hospitals around the city in more than 300 ambulances, or moved to a makeshift shelter, while residents were given shelter in school buildings outside the evacuation zone.
Authorities said a "safe house" that already contained an intensive care unit (ICU) was upgraded at considerable expense over several weeks to accommodate 50 to 70 ICU patients for whom transfer to another hospital would be life threatening. They include burn victims and those in comas who were admitted after the bomb was discovered.
Cologne was among the most heavily bombed cities in Europe during World War II. Evacuations due to bomb finds occur every year and are also common in other major cities in Germany that were heavily targeted, including Berlin.
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