Berlin - Officials in Germany's western city of Koblenz say some 45 000 residents have to be evacuated as officials try to defuse a World War II era bomb discovered in the Rhine river.
City officials said on Saturday the massive British 1.8 ton bomb will be defused early on Sunday, requiring all residents within a radius of about 2 kilometres from the bomb site to leave their homes for the day.
Officials say seven nursing homes, two hospitals and a prison are also being evacuated. Train and road traffic in the area, some 130km northwest of Frankfurt, will come to a halt.
The British bomb was found last week alongside a 275 pound bomb dropped there by US forces during WWII, after Rhine's water level fell due to lack of rain.
- SAPA
