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1,000 Homes Evacuated After Unexploded WWII Bomb Discovered Under U.K. School Playground

By Anne Sewell
Published on: 08:34 PST, May 13, 2016

Building contractors unearthed a 500-pound WWII shell under the surface of a school playground on Thursday, causing hundreds of homes to be evacuated until it could be safely removed.

Residents living in around 1,000 homes in a 300-meter exclusion area were unable to return to their homes for 48 hours after the unexploded World War II bomb was discovered beneath the surface of the playground at the Royal High School in Landsdown Road in Bath, U.K.

People were evacuated on Thursday night and during the early hours of Friday morning and were accommodated with green inflatable beds at a reception center in the area.

According to a report in the Telegraph, the playground was in use up until a few years ago and an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) team was called to the scene.

Chief Inspector Kevin Thatcher of the Avon and Somerset Police explained that decisions to evacuate residents are never taken lightly. However, he said that during incidents of this nature, public safety is paramount.

“We recognize the disruption this incident has already caused to residents inside the exclusion zone and we’d like to thank them for their patience.”

Thatcher went on to say that they appreciate the anxiety many in the local community were feeling following the discovery of the unexploded WWII bomb and also the time it would take to remove it, but they urged residents not to be alarmed.

“The EOD are working as quickly as they can to remove the device and we will provide regular updates on their progress.”

The unexploded WWII bomb was discovered at around 6 p.m. on Thursday and after studying photos of the find, police set up a cordon and started to evacuate the properties within it. The EOD team built a safety barrier around the device using 250 tons of sand.

Once the safety barrier was in place, the EOD team planned remove the explosive device and use a police escort to move it to a safe location away from the Bath area. Once there, the experts would carry out a controlled explosion.

A police spokesman said: “Avon and Somerset Police are working closely with their partners at Bath & North East Somerset Council, South West Ambulance Service and Avon Fire and Rescue to look after those temporarily evacuated.

The spokesman continued by saying that once residents are outside the exclusion zone, they will be unable to re-enter while the incident is ongoing and at this stage, they believe it could take up to 48 hours.

Reportedly, some residents inside the cordon decided to remain in their homes and the spokesman said they will continue to advise these residents to move to a safe distance away.

“Those who have remained inside the exclusion zone will be prevented from moving within 100m of the device for their own safety.”

“Schools close to the cordon may be affected and the advice is to consult the council website, Twitter feed, local radio stations, as well as look out for messages from the schools themselves,” a spokesman for Bath & North East Somerset Council said.

The spokesman told residents that in order to minimize disruption, they were advised to carefully consider if it is absolutely necessary for them to travel into the city on Friday. He advised that if they could possibly work from home or an alternative location, this would be advised.

The Mirror reported that the unexploded bomb has since been successfully removed and as soon as the safety cordon had been removed, residents would be told they could return to their homes. They were, however, warned that this could take some time.

[Photo of Bath via Flickr by Nigel Swales, cropped and resized/CC BY-SA 2.0]

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