Maribor WWII bomb deactivated
Maribor, 16 January - Authorities successfully neutralised on Sunday an unexploded WWII aerial bomb that was found in Maribor earlier this week. A part of Slovenia's second largest city had to be evacuated until roughly 1:30pm when sirens marked the end of danger.
Maribor
A bomb disposal team deactivates an unexploded WWII bomb, as nearby residents are evacuated.
Photo: Jure Makovec/STA
Maribor
A bomb disposal team deactivates an unexploded WWII bomb, as nearby residents are evacuated.
Photo: Jure Makovec/STA
The 250-kilos device was found at a construction site in Maribor on Tuesday.
Some 150 members of various teams in the field of civil defence, rescue and safety took part in today's deactivation effort, said Samo Robič, the head of the Maribor Civil Defence.
The evacuation of about 130 residents from a 300-metre zone around the site was successfully carried out. Those with nowhere to wait out the evacuation period were instructed to go to the Martin Konšak primary school.
Eight members of the national unexploded ordnance disposal team took part in the operation, said Stanislav Lotrič, deputy director of the administration for civil protection and disaster relief.
The bomb had two mechanical fuses, same as the two that were found and successfully removed in late 2019.
Maribor was one of the most bombed cities in the lands of the former Yugoslavia during the Second World War. Nearly 30 bomb attacks were carried out and almost 16,000 bombs were dropped in the Maribor area between January 1944 and April 1945, so the possibility of finding unexploded ordnance there is relatively high.