450 Kilogram Bomb Of World War II Found In Receding Italian River, 3,000 Residents Evacuated

Illustration of the discovery of a World War II bomb. (Wikimedia Commons/Holger Weinandt)

JAKARTA - Thousands of residents of a village in Italy were evacuated, as authorities carried out an operation to detonate a World War II bomb found in a river receding due to extreme weather.

The heatwave that hit Europe this summer has not only brought record high temperatures and scorched fields. The waters of Italy's drought-stricken Po River flow so low that it reveals a previously sunk Second World War bomb.

Military experts defused and carried out a controlled explosion on Sunday. The 450 kg (1,000 pounds) bomb was found near the northern village of Borgo Virgilio, close to the Italian town of Mantua on July 25.

"The bomb was found by fishermen on the banks of the Po River due to the receding water levels due to drought," Colonel Marco Nasi said.

It is not an easy task to clean the bomb.

About 3,000 people living nearby were evacuated for the disposal operation, the army said. The area's airspace was shut down, while navigation along the stretch of waterway, as well as traffic on nearby state rail and road lines, was suspended.

"At first, some residents said they were not going to move, but in the last few days, we think we have persuaded everyone," Borgo Virgilio mayor Francesco Aporti said, adding that if people refused to leave, operations would be halted.

Bomb disposal engineers removed a fuse from a US-made device, which the military said contained 240 kg (530 pounds) of explosives.

Then a bomb disposal squad, escorted by police, transferred the device to a mine in the municipality of Medole about 45 km (30 miles) away, where the bomb was detonated.

Italy declared a state of emergency last month for the area around the Po, which is the country's longest river. It accounts for about a third of Italy's agricultural production and suffers from the worst drought in 70 years.