By Ole Kroning and Carlos Contreras
A bomb was discovered on Wednesday morning during construction work on Landsberger Allee. It is a 100 kg Russian aerial bomb from World War II.
A restricted area with a radius of 500 meters was set up around the site.
About 450 police officers are waiting on site. A total of three daycare centers, two schools, two furniture stores and a hardware store were cleared. Around 7,800 residents had to leave the restricted area. Emergency vehicles were on the road, and loudspeakers asked people to leave their homes.
“I got a call earlier to pick my daughter up from school right away. We just quickly packed our things and are now going to my parents’,” said Marie J. (32) to BZ
Marie J. (32) and her daughter Luana (7) have to leave their apartment in the restricted area
Photo: Ralf Guenther
“There is now knocking everywhere,” said a police spokesman. Once the evacuation was complete, the bomb’s detonator was to be removed.
A bomb was found in this area of a construction site in Berlin-Lichtenberg Photo: Ralf Guenther
The Russian-made aircraft bomb is said to have a length of 60 centimeters and a diameter of 30 centimeters.
The closures affected Schleizer Strasse (north), the corner of Landsberger Allee (west), Ferdinand-Schultze-Strasse (east) and Arendsweg (south). However, traffic on Landsberger Allee should continue as normal and was classified as unproblematic.
Emergency accommodation was provided by the Wilhelmsberg school, the sports hall of the Alexander Pushkin high school and the Philipp Reis high school.
Peter (72) and Monika (68) Bergemann, Ursel Hähnchen (87) and Ingrid Gauert (80) are waiting in the gym of the Philip Reiss high school to be allowed to go home after the bomb disposal Photo: Ralf Guenther
There, the evacuees use the time for a little chat. Ingrid Gauert: “You meet nice people here. It would be nice if there was at least something to drink. I couldn’t pack anything in the rush. If it takes too long, we sleep on the gym mats. We are war children, we know how to do it.”
At around 9.15 p.m. the all-clear was given: the bomb had been successfully defused. All bans will be lifted.