Patients at hospitals in Frankfurt have been moved to prepare for the controlled explosion of a huge bomb left over from World War Two.

The 1.4 tonne British bomb, found on a building site on Wednesday, will be made safe on Sunday.

About 65,000 people must leave their homes and police have said they will imprison anyone who refuses to go.

It is Germany's biggest post-war evacuation. A smaller one took place on Saturday in Koblenz.

In the city 110km (68 miles) west of Frankfurt, 22,000 people had to leave their homes for four hours while experts disposed of a World War Two bomb that had been found during preparations for building a new kindergarten.

Thousands of unexploded bombs from the war are still found in Germany every year.

Last month a kindergarten was evacuated after the teacher found an unexploded World War Two bomb on a shelf. Police said a child had found it on a woodland walk and brought it inside.

A councillor in Frankfurt, which is Germany's financial hub, told Reuters news agency that more than 100 patients from two hospitals were moved on Saturday.

He said they included premature babies and people in intensive care.

The fire brigade tweeted (in German) that 500 more would be moved from care homes early on Sunday.

Fire and police chiefs in the city warned that an uncontrolled explosion of the HC 4000 bomb would be powerful enough to flatten an entire street.

Source:
courtesy of BBC NEWS

by BBC NEWS

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