Unexploded bomb successfully defused in Kiel-Gaarden

The evacuation was initially supposed to be completed by 11:00 AM, but it was delayed by over two hours. The police anticipated this situation, as a large number of residents in the area speak little to no German, and some may not have received the evacuation alert, said police spokesman Matthias Arends. Thus, police units patrolled the affected streets, and firefighters deployed a drone for assistance.

Defusing Completed Within Three-Quarters of an Hour

Shortly after 1:00 PM, experts from the bomb disposal service began their operations. They needed to defuse an American aerial bomb that was located near a school, buried six meters deep on Kiel’s Stoschstraße. The 250-kilogram bomb was discovered days prior during preliminary construction evaluations and subsequent aerial photography near the elementary school. After evacuating the area, the emergency teams lifted the bomb and successfully removed the detonator around 1:45 PM. According to police reports, the defusing process went smoothly.

Since 11:00 AM, the roads surrounding the bomb site had been closed, including major traffic routes such as Ostring and Preetzer Straße. Consequently, many bus lines operated by the Kiel public transport authority faced diversions. A temporary shelter was set up for affected residents in the Ellerbeker school, where around 100 people, including seniors, wheelchair users, and families with small children, awaited the completion of the defusal.

Largest Evacuation in Ten Years

With 12,000 individuals impacted, this marked the largest evacuation in the state capital recorded in over a decade. The city has maintained documentation of evacuation measures for about ten years, and the previous largest evacuation occurred in April of this year, wherein more than 11,500 people had to vacate their residences in advance of similar operations.