Unexploded WWII bomb revealed in drought-hit Italian river - BBC News

An unexploded World War Two bomb submerged in an Italian river has been revealed due to an extreme drought.

The 450kg (1,000lb) bomb was found by fishermen on the banks of the depleted River Po.

Large sections of the 650km (400 mile) river have dried up in Italy's worst drought for 70 years.

Some 3,000 residents near the Lombardy village of Borgo Virgilio were reportedly evacuated so bomb disposal experts could safely carry out a controlled explosion on Sunday.

#Italy #BBCNews

[terox]

The bomb looks so small but its still 450 kg which is insane

[DeepMeditationMusic]

I am glad no one was hurt by this unexploded bomb. Well done to thos who defused the bomb!

[llamaknight]

They say:"we evacuated the town" "we closed the air space"" we stopped the railway"
My expectations : a vacuum bomb or a tactical Nuke size explosion
The reality : looks like you blown up a tier or dropped something from a high place

[dhawthorne]

An unfortunate name to have in a WWII related news story.

I'm glad it all worked out. It's amazing that there are still finds like this just waiting for the wrong person to happen by.

[scapegoatiscariot]

I believe they buried that before detonating it.

[goldandsilverminingintheci]

There was one buried in the mud at the dock in Koblenz. I walked over it a few times.

[luca]

There are sooo many (too many) people saying Why evacuate the whole town, it’s a small explosion and so on. Please read!!:

When they blow up these bombs they bury them so to greatly dissipate the effect of the explosion. The video of the explosion is therefore no where near what it would have been if it exploded above ground. It’s still a 450kg bomb with over 200kg of explosives. Just for comparison an M252 mortar round weighs about 4, 5kg and has an effective kill radius of about 35m. Imagine 200+kg of explosive.
Also, there is a nice website called “Explosive Danger Area Calculator” belonging to the UN, which can calculate both horizontal and vertical safety areas for detonating explosive devices, if you insert the weight of the bomb you get that you need just under 2500m (8000ft) of vertical clearance, which therefore requires a NOTAM (notice to airmen) and a possible temporary closure of airspace. Horizontally the safety area (always inputting a 450kg bomb) has a radius of 1750m which therefore could require to evacuate an entire town of close by.
Also, in northern italy this is pretty common, so they know what they are doing, don’t judge if you don’t know it all!!!! Looks like the entire comment section is a conference of bomb disposal experts

[S.H.I.E.L.D.-Agent-Knight]

I'm sadden by the amount of drought that everyone is going through. But, in a very small way it's revealing past munitions that pose a danger unknown to us that are now given the chance to safely remove them and dispose of so that no harm comes to anyone who might be in a boat that could of hit that bomb and set it off by accident. Good job to the EDT's

[mitski]

I guess you could say it was a blast from the past

[bellosanimada]

Aa Really brought home how bad the situation is when the guy at the end expressed gratitude for simply having enough space to stand up inside his shared apartment....

[bounty]

This video is not accurate. They should have told that here in northern Italy it's normal to find a bomb like that, it happens from time to time.
Watching this video it looks like a rare event.

[hesbonbwire]

I was expecting it is going to shake the whole village but just sounded like a Nissan match Tire bast

[simonscowled]

Question: how long do these bombs last? It's been 70+ years

[danielwhyatt]

Okay, I was on the weather Italy was so incredibly safety obsessed. I mean, instead of the £400 bomb, but it feels like it’s a bit much to evacuate an entire town, and close off airspace above, just to detonate a bomb with an explosion that big!? I understand it could cause of damage of it went off near a building, but considering the size of it, it feels like it’s a bit unnecessary if anything feels very babyish. As if you were to evacuate the entire skyscraper because somebody was running about with a pocket knife.

[zachbernstein]

How you gonna evacuate 3K ppl for the isolated explosion of a grunt bomb? They could’ve done it right in that bank, cleared maybe one block off ppl beforehand, and saved themselves a lot of sweat smh.

[dorayantz]

😲Thank God the bomb didn't explode in the heat of the draught. 🙏

[JeffreyDeCristofaro]

Must have been REALLY highly concentrated explosive to fit that bomb size. Well, now that it's blown up, they're going to have to gather the pieces they find and add them to the WWII exhibit in a museum, maybe in Rome.

[piersp]

After 77 years from the WW2 end or 104 from the WW1, Our Army finds and destroies an average amount of 34.000 bombs each year . Bombs of many types and sizes, from the Armies to the Air forces types .

[wildandbarefoot]

Imagine sitting on the Po, and that goes off...?!

[NoName-sbtp]

The most effective way to ask people to move is bringing alongside a few permanent markers, tell them to write their name and ID on various parts on their bodies, and their childrens bodies so that people can ID them later. That would hopefully hit their mind hard enough so that they agreed to move. And I still have no idea why some people just keep trying to be tough in the face of certain but avoidable danger. I have volunteered for enough disaster and flood evacuation and clean up to see that happen.