German excavator driver killed in WWII bomb explosion A World War Two bomb has exploded at a construction site near a west German town, killing a man and injuring eight other workers. The explosion occurred after a digger accidentally struck the device during excavation work in Euskirchen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The accident, in which two of the wounded suffered serious injuries, shook an industrial area in the town, near the former capital Bonn in western Germany. Bomb explosion Germany “During earthworks an excavator hit a World War II bomb which exploded,” a local police spokesman said. “There was a huge blast wave. In the vicinity of the accident site and surrounding streets, home windows shattered and garage doors were pushed in.” The ground below many Germany cities still contains unexploded ordnance dropped by Allied and Soviet forces in the Second World War, but most is safely defused when found.
My condolences to his loved ones.
Watched a show on this subject. At that time ~10 years ago they had 50 companies that specialize in digging up ordnance in Germany. They figured they would have work for 50 years. These guys get aerial photos that the allies took of areas they bombed and can find where duds hit and then figure out the exact spot using co ordinates and remove the item. They dig up bombs, mines , hand grenades and guns etc. Dialing before you dig takes on a whole new meaning over there. My Condolences to to the deceased and injured.
Yes I heard about this on the news also - very sad. I watched a similar documentary on WWII, and the numbers were just crazy. From memory, they dig up something like 1000 explosive objects in German each year... 60+ years after the actual event. Hopefully technology can help improve the excavating conditions in the years to come.
A video of the aftermath .......... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npzu9H5diEk#t=14
You know it has to be American made bomb to still be working after 70yrs
powerjoke, bombs are not rated for longjevity... you only want them to work for a couple of minutes after you let them go, 70 years is a little long of a fuse
Yair . . . . . . . or some folks may say it was an American bomb because the b*****d didn't detonate as intended . . . cuts both ways. How lucky we are that we don't have to deal with detritus of war. Cheers.
One could say it was an American as it took 70 years to do a .3 second job.....................:drinkup
We have been on a few sites where we ran into UXO. Its not a very fun experience to say the least. You never know what you have. In our case, the site was all training rounds. We have bid on jobs there were going to be screening soils with UXO. It included lexan, and steel plates as part of PPE.