GERMANY IS PREPARING to evacuate 45,000 people from the western city of Koblenz after the discovery of a WWII British bomb.
The 10ft RAF bomb, one of the largest ever discovered, was found in the River Rhine after the driest November on record caused the water level to drop.
Der Speigel reports that passersby had also noticed a smaller device, designed to create a smokescreen, in the dried river.
Officials say that unexploded bombs are regularly found across the country – and that they expect to find more in the Rhine. They have placed a temporary dam of 350 sandbags round the bomb in order to assist experts in defusing it.
The city has a population of 106,000, half of which will have to be moved during the operation; among those being evacuated are the residents of seven retirement homes and a jail, reports thestar.com.
The evacuation of residents will leave mile-wide security zone around the site.
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