London: Army bomb disposal experts have been drafted in to defuse an undetonated World War Two bomb near Wembley Stadium which they have said poses “a genuine risk to life”.
The 50kg explosive, which is thought to have been dropped during Nazi bombing raids in the early 1940s, was unearthed by builders working near the stadium on Thursday. It triggered the evacuation of homes and businesses, reportedly including the studio in which Britain’s Got Talent are filmed, outside a 400 metre police cordon.
“This bomb is a live munition in a potentially dangerous condition so it’s important that people listen to the police and evacuate their homes if asked.” an army spokesman said. “We will do all we can to minimise the disruption but ask the public to bear with us – any bomb, even under a controlled explosion could cause significant damage to property and there is a genuine risk to life.”
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said that the number of evacuees so far was relatively small. Royal Logistic Corps disposal teams from Northolt and Ashchurch have excavated the Luftwaffe Sprengbombe-Cylindrisch general purpose bomb. Royal Engineers have also built a blast wall around the site in order to limit the damage of an accidental explosion.
“The team is very well experienced. They’ve dealt with Improvised Explosive Devices in Iraq, Afghanistan and Northern Ireland which are much more complex than Second World War munitions,” the army spokesman added. In March, a 250kg bomb was found in Bermondsey, southeast London, before being taken to a quarry in Kent to be destroyed once it had been defused.
German wartime bombs uniquely have their fuses on the side, rather than in the tail or nose, where fuses are located on more modern devices.
