Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The bomb was found by workers on a construction site in Heidestrasse

German police have defused a World War Two bomb in central Berlin, after some 10,000 people were evacuated.

"A short bang - there was a controlled explosion of the detonator away from the bomb," the police said.

The British bomb has been removed, the main railway station has reopened and traffic is getting back to normal.

The evacuation zone included homes, government ministries, hospitals and museums. The disruption lasted from 09:00 to 13:30 (0700-1130 GMT).

During that period trains were unable to stop at the main railway station and vehicles were diverted away from the zone. The police cordon has now been lifted.

"Everything went smoothly without complications, and by the book," said police explosives expert Engin Laumer after the 500kg (1,100lb) bomb had been defused.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A big digger was used to hoist the bomb away once it was safe

It was found last Wednesday during construction work in Heidestrasse.

Buildings were cleared in an 800m (2,625ft) radius around the site. Police went door to door to check the area was empty of people before their specialist team began defusing the bomb.

Berlin's famous Charité university hospital and a military hospital were partly shut down.

Police tweeted a photo of their bomb disposal team poised to make it safe.

Thousands of unexploded bombs from the 1939-45 war are found every year. Berlin was reduced to ruins in 1945 and about 3,000 unexploded bombs are believed to be still lying buried in the city.

In September about 65,000 people were evacuated in Frankfurt because of an unexploded bomb.

Image copyright AFP Image caption The evacuation zone included Berlin's Hauptbahnhof

Flights to and from Tegel airport - about 7km (4.5 miles) away - were not affected by the evacuation.

Tegel, which is Berlin's busiest airport, was briefly closed last August after the discovery of a Soviet World War Two bomb.

The menace of unexploded bombs

By Jenny Hill, BBC Berlin correspondent

Sitting in the warm sunshine, suitcases beside them, Gabrielle and her sister gazed at the police cordon stretched across the glass façade of Berlin's main railway station. "I hope it doesn't go off!" she laughed.

Like many Germans, Gabrielle was rather sanguine about the presence of unexploded ordnance. "They defuse World War Two bombs from time to time in Osnabrueck - my home town - too," she added.

The relics of wartime Germany turn up with surprising regularity. Estimates vary but it is thought that at least one in every 10 Allied bombs dropped on this country during World War Two failed to detonate.

They are discovered so frequently, often by builders or farmers, that every German state has a specialist team responsible for their disposal. But rarely do they cause such widespread disruption.

Other WW2 bombs discovered in Germany</s>(CNN) The disposal of an unexploded World War II bomb will bring disruption Friday to Berlin as police attempt to defuse the 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) explosive.

The bomb was discovered during construction work near the city's central train station.

Local bus and train routes will be disrupted during the operation.

But the operator of Berlin's Tegel Airport said Friday's schedule will run as normal.

"Good news: The originally coordinated Tegel flight plan for tomorrow can take place as planned," it tweeted Thursday.

The discovery of bombs from the second World War is not an uncommon occurrence in Germany.

In September, a 1,400-kilogram bomb discovered in Frankfurt led to nearly 60,000 people being evacuated while experts defused the device.

A Russian-made aerial bomb weighing 100 kilograms was found near a train track leading into Berlin's main station in 2013.</s>The disposal of an unexploded World War II bomb brought disruption to Berlin Friday as police began attempts to defuse a 500-kilogram(1,100-pound) explosive.

The bomb was discovered during construction work near the city’s central train station.

Police have evacuated buildings that are in an 800-meter (half-mile) radius of the site as a precaution with officers knocking on doors to ensure nobody is remaining inside.

Local bus and train routes have been disrupted during the operation while roads surrounding the station have been closed.

The evacuation has also led to the country’s Economic Ministry and Federal Intelligence Service also being evacuated.

The Natural History Museum has been closed while parts of the local University have been cordoned off.

Away from the evacuation site, Berlin’s Tegel Airport said Friday’s schedule will run as normal.

“Good news: The originally coordinated Tegel flight plan for tomorrow can take place as planned,” it tweeted Thursday.

The discovery of bombs from the second World War is not an uncommon occurrence in Germany with hundreds found ever year.

In September, a 1,400-kilogram bomb discovered in Frankfurt led to nearly 60,000 people being evacuated while experts defused the device.

In May, more than 50,000 people were evacuated from Hanover after a bomb was discovered during pre-construction work on a site in the Vahrenwald district.

On Christmas Day 2016, another 50,000 were forced to leave Augsburg in south Germany after a 1,800-kilogram bomb was found beneath an underground parking garage.

A Russian-made aerial bomb weighing 100 kilograms was found near a train track leading into Berlin’s main station in 2013.</s>April 19 (UPI) -- Berlin is set to hold a large-scale evacuation Friday to allow experts to defuse a 1,100-pound World War II explosive.

Buildings within a 2,625-foot radius from the German construction site where the British bomb was found will be evacuated beginning 9 a.m. local time as a precaution.

The evacuation area includes government ministries, a hospital and the city's central train station.

Local bus and train routes will be disrupted during the operation, but the operator of Berlin's Tegel Airport said Friday's operations will proceed as scheduled.

"Good news: The originally coordinated Tegel flight plan for tomorrow can take place as planned," the airport said.

The discovery of bombs from World War II are a common occurrence in Germany and police said there is no immediate danger for people in the area from the bomb.

About 65,000 residents in Frankfurt were evacuated in September as experts successfully defused an unexploded bomb.</s>A handout photo shows a bomb defusing team pose next to a 500-kilogram World War II bomb near the main train station in Berlin. Picture: Reuters

Berlin - Bomb disposal experts have defused a 500 kilogram World War II British bomb in the centre of Berlin, police have said.

Experts were able within a short space of time to remove the fuse from the bomb and make it safe, a police spokesman said on Friday.

Before they could start, 10 000 people had to be cleared from a 800-metre-radius exclusion zone near the capital's central rail station, which was completely closed during the operation.

Rail operator Deutsche Bahn said 300,000 passengers use the station daily and 1,300 people who work there had to leave their posts. "We have never had a comparable situation to this degree," a spokesman said.

Several government ministries, the German Intelligence Service, a courthouse and the Museum for Contemporary Art fall within the zone and were closed. Two hospitals had to be partially cleared.

Police went through the streets with loudhailers, knocked on doors and rung bells, urging people to evacuate.

Police later told local residents they could return to their homes.

The operation was peaceful and harmonious, a police spokeswoman said. Via Twitter, the police thanked all public transport passengers for their understanding and wished them "a good onward journey hopefully soon."

Public transport in the area had been completely shut down while the bomb was disposed of. Deutsche Bahn said local services could return to normal quite quickly, but it would take some time for long-distance trains to get back on schedule.

Flights were not disrupted, but public transport to the airport was.

Undetonated World War II bombs are frequently discovered in Germany, especially during construction projects, prompting disposal operations that often involve large-scale evacuations.

Until the end of the war in 1945, there were 380 air raids by the US, British and Russian air forces on Berlin. Historians estimate that 45,000 tons of explosives were dropped on the capital.

The city administration estimates there are still some 3 000 bombs, grenades and ammunition remnants buried under the city.</s>BERLIN— Berlin police were evacuating thousands of people from a central area of the German capital Friday and shutting down the main train station in preparation for the removal of an unexploded World War II bomb found during recent construction work.

Some 10,000 residents and workers were being forced to leave a two-square-kilometre (almost a square mile) area, including the train station, while bomb experts defuse the 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) British bomb dropped during the war.

Trains were prevented from stopping at the busy station from 10 a.m., and through traffic was being shut down at 11:30 a.m. before experts begin their work, German rail operator Deutsche Bahn said.

Rail traffic is tentatively planned to resume at about 1 p.m. but it's not clear yet how long the bomb disposal operation will take. Some 300,000 travellers use the station daily, according to Deutsche Bahn.

The evacuation area, a circle around the construction site north of the train station where the bomb was discovered during digging, also includes a hospital, the main office of Germany's foreign intelligence service, and parts of both the economy and transportation ministries.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's office and Germany's parliament building are close by, but outside the zone.

Even 73 years after the end of the war, such discoveries remain common in major German cities.

Downtown Berlin was largely reduced to rubble in hundreds of Allied bombing raids during the war and street-to-street fighting between the Nazi and Soviet armies in the final days of the conflict.

Experts estimate that more than 5 per cent of the bombs dropped on Berlin failed to explode due to a variety of reasons, including faulty fuses, poor assembly and bad angle of impact. The city estimates at least 3,000 bombs, grenades and other munitions are still buried.

In one of the more sensational finds, a 250-kilogram (550-pound) British bomb was found in 2002 beneath the lower ring of seats during renovation work at Berlin's Olympic Stadium, where tens of thousands of fans regularly watch the city's Hertha BSC soccer club play its home games.</s>Trains, trams and buses were halted or rerouted as the operation to dispose of the British 500-kilogram bomb found more than 70 years after the war got underway

BERLIN, Germany – Thousands of people around Berlin's central railway station were evacuated on Friday, April 20 as bomb disposal experts began defusing an unexploded World War II explosive unearthed on a building site.

Trains, trams and buses were halted or rerouted as the operation to dispose of the British 500-kilogram bomb found more than 70 years after the war got underway.

Authorities have declared an exclusion zone with an 800-meter radius around the site located just north of the central railway station, a transport hub that on a normal day is used by 300,000 passengers.

Arriving from Leipzig on a day trip to Berlin, Japanese tourist Yamamoto looked bewildered as he was told of the operation at the railway station.

"We didn't know anything about the bomb," he told AFP.

The exclusion zone covers the train station, an army hospital, the economy ministry, an art gallery and a museum as well as part of the BND intelligence service's new headquarters.

Many thousands of residents and employees have been ordered to stay clear of the area and not return until police give the all-clear.

Among them were workers at the economy ministry who were told to work from other offices or from home, or were simply given the day off, a spokeswoman said.

Police also went house to house to check the zone has been completely cleared before the bomb disposal experts began their work.

Temporary shelters have also been set up for those affected by the evacuation.

Esen Coskon, 50, who was at one of the shelters with his 22-year-old son, Furkan, said he learnt of the evacuation from the media and police, who had sent leaflets to every home.

Coskon said the operation was deja-vu, with a similar one in 2013 also affecting the area around the main railway station.

"Everything has been well organized... we were told to leave our apartment at 9:00 am. The police came to knock on every door," he told AFP.

Angela Merkel's chancellery building and the Reichstag (parliament) lie just a few hundred metres to the south of the no-go zone and can keep operating as usual.

More than 70 years after the end of the war, unexploded bombs are regularly found, a potentially deadly legacy of the intense Allied bombing campaign against Nazi Germany.

In the biggest post-war evacuation, at least 60,000 Frankfurt residents were forced to leave their homes last September so that an unexploded 1.8-tonn British bomb dubbed the "blockbuster" could be defused.

Some 3,000 such unexploded bombs are believed to still lie buried in Berlin, a city of three million people, where disposal squads are well-practised in defusing them and other ordnance.

It was unclear how long the bomb disposal squad would take to disable the bomb found during construction work on Heidestrasse in the district of Mitte.

"We're talking here about a bomb that measures about 110 by 45 centimetres, so it's a hefty heavyweight blaster with the potential to cause severe damage in the center of town; that's why we are going about it very very carefully," said police spokesman Winfrid Wenzel.

Police have however stressed that the bomb was "safe for now", reassuring nearby residents that "there is no immediate danger". – Rappler.com</s>BERLIN — Berlin police evacuated thousands of people from a central area of the German capital Friday and shut down the main train station as a precaution while they defused and removed an unexploded World War II bomb found during recent construction work.

Some 10,000 residents and workers were forced to leave a square-mile area, including the train station, while bomb experts defused the 1,100-pound British bomb dropped during the war.

Trains were prevented from stopping at the busy station from 10 a.m., and through traffic was shut down at 11:30 a.m. before experts began their work, German rail operator Deutsche Bahn said. Some 300,000 travelers use the station daily.

Bomb disposal experts were able to successfully remove the detonator just after 1 p.m. and destroy it in a small controlled explosion.

The evacuation area, a circle around the construction site north of the train station where the bomb was discovered during digging, also included a hospital, the new offices of Germany’s foreign intelligence service, and parts of both the economy and transportation ministries.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office and Germany’s parliament building are close by, but outside the zone.

Even 73 years after the end of the war, such discoveries remain common in major German cities.

Downtown Berlin was largely reduced to rubble in hundreds of Allied bombing raids during the war and street-to-street fighting between the Nazi and Soviet armies in the final days of the conflict.

Experts estimate that more than 5 percent of the bombs dropped on Berlin failed to explode due to a variety of reasons, including faulty fuse.</s>Berlin: A large-scale evacuation is to take place in Berlin on Friday to allow experts to defuse a World War II bomb, police said.

The area to be cleared includes Berlin Hauptbahnhof — the central railway station, an army hospital, the economy and transport ministries and the embassies of Indonesia and Uzbekistan, the BBC quoted the German police as saying.

Rail company Deutsche Bahn and other transport operators have warned of large-scale disruption for trains, trams and buses in the area.

The police say there is no immediate danger from the 500 kg British bomb, which was found on Heidestrasse last Wednesday. The operation to defuse the device will take place around midday, the BBC said.

The buildings will be cleared from 9 am in an 800 metre radius from the construction site where the bomb was discovered.

Flights to and from Tegel airport — about 7 km away — will not be affected, authorities said on Thursday, although planes coming in to land will avoid flying over the site.

Thousands of unexploded bombs from the 1939-45 war are found every year.

Tegel, which is Berlin's busiest airport, was briefly closed in August 2017 after the discovery of a Russian World War II bomb. In September, patients at hospitals in Frankfurt were evacuated to allow the controlled explosion of another huge wartime bomb.</s>A large area in central Berlin is being evacuated by police, including the city’s main train station due an ongoing operation to defuse a 500-kg (1,100-pound) World War II bomb discovered during construction work.

 Police in the German capital said Wednesday that all buildings in an 800-meter (875-yard) radius around the site will have to be evacuated Friday morning as a precaution. Apart from the railway station, the area also includes a hospital run by the German military and the economy ministry.

The operation will affect long-distance and commuter rail services passing through Berlin’s main station from 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) onward.

 More than 70 years after the end of the war, unexploded bombs are still being found during construction work in Germany, often requiring temporary evacuations.
Around 10,000 people are evacuated from central Berlin, Germany, while bomb disposal experts defuse a 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) World War II–era British bomb at a construction site.