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Construction worker dies as WWII bomb explodes
Monday, 6 January 2014
A GERMAN construction worker was killed late last week after the bulldozer he was operating hit a World War II bomb, causing it to explode.
The explosion happened in an industrial area of Euskirchen, in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia, as workers were sorting and disposing of rubble.
The bulldozer operator was killed instantly and at least eight others were left injured after the vehicle hit the device.
Windows, roofs and doors as far as 400m away were damaged in the blast, police at the scene confirmed.
"During excavations ... the digger uncovered a wartime bomb, which exploded,” police spokesman Norbert Hardt told Reuters.
“The driver was killed and several others close to the digger were hurt.
“Two are seriously injured and six lightly.”
Explosives experts are working to determine exactly what the device was.
Each year hundreds of wartime bombs are uncovered in Germany, though most are successfully detonated.
The NRW Interior Ministry said it defused 706 bombs in 2012, 239 of which weighed more than 50kg.
Experts increasingly use Allies' wartime aerial photographs to find unexploded bombs, although many continue to be discovered accidentally during construction work.
Monday, 6 January 2014
A GERMAN construction worker was killed late last week after the bulldozer he was operating hit a World War II bomb, causing it to explode.
The explosion happened in an industrial area of Euskirchen, in Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia, as workers were sorting and disposing of rubble.
The bulldozer operator was killed instantly and at least eight others were left injured after the vehicle hit the device.
Windows, roofs and doors as far as 400m away were damaged in the blast, police at the scene confirmed.
"During excavations ... the digger uncovered a wartime bomb, which exploded,” police spokesman Norbert Hardt told Reuters.
“The driver was killed and several others close to the digger were hurt.
“Two are seriously injured and six lightly.”
Explosives experts are working to determine exactly what the device was.
Each year hundreds of wartime bombs are uncovered in Germany, though most are successfully detonated.
The NRW Interior Ministry said it defused 706 bombs in 2012, 239 of which weighed more than 50kg.
Experts increasingly use Allies' wartime aerial photographs to find unexploded bombs, although many continue to be discovered accidentally during construction work.
