The biggest World War II bomb detonated at the bottom of a Baltic Sea shipping canal in Poland during the defusing process.
Before the defusing process, more than 750 people were evacuated from their homes where the Tallboy bomb used by Britain’s Royal Air Force (RAF) was found. Dubbed the earthquake bomb, it was dropped by the RAF in 1945 in an attack on the German cruiser Lutzow.
Weighing almost 5,400kg, including 2,400kg of explosive, the bomb exploded while Polish navy demolition experts were trying to neutralize it underwater by burning out its explosives. However, the process turned into detonation.
Polish coast guard detonate an unexploded bomb from the World War II era that contained more than 2 thousand kilograms of explosive pic.twitter.com/vWDpEgF0l1
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) October 14, 2020
A WWII, British bomb which weighs a whooping 5400 kg has detonated in #Poland after 75 years!!#news #newsupdates #newsupdate2020 #international #internationalnews #ww2 #worldwar2 #poland pic.twitter.com/vsepe048M6
— Dhruvanews (@dhruvanews) October 14, 2020
https://twitter.com/Parthsharma9055/status/1316292171947929600?s=20
The shock was reportedly felt in parts of the city. A video on social media shows the blast throwing up a large column of water into the air.
The spokesman of the 8th Coastal Defense Flotilla Second-Lieutenant Grzegorz Lewandowski said no one was injured because all the divers were at a safe distance from the blast.
Second-Lieutenant Grzegorz Lewandowski, the spokesman of the 8th Coastal Defense Flotilla, said no one was injured because all the divers were at a safe distance from the blast.
— Steven McCulloch (@SteveMcCVet) October 13, 2020
World War Two bomb explodes as navy divers attempt to defuse it https://t.co/ArUJLswuN8
— Sky News (@SkyNews) October 13, 2020
💬"The operation was carried out perfectly and safely and the bomb is safe now," said Lt Col Grzegorz Lewandowski.
He added it was the biggest such operation by sappers in Poland, where unexploded wartime bombs, missiles and grenades are still found.https://t.co/MmE9bBOEnM
— BFBS Forces News (@ForcesNews) October 14, 2020