Italy: 54,000 people evacuated in WWII bomb scare

Explosives experts on Sunday defused a World War II bomb in the southern coastal Italian city of Brindisi (above) following a historic evacuation of the city center.

More than 50,000 people had to leave their homes in the run-up to the operation, comprising more than 60% of the city's population. Local media described the evacuation as the largest operation of its kind since the end of the war.

Technicians guided a remote-controlled robot to defuse the explosive. Similar models of the robot had been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

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Risky business

The explosive was identified as a British bomb presumably dropped on Brindisi in 1941. It weighed more than 200 kilograms (440 pounds) and carried 40 kilograms of dynamite.

The bomb was discovered during a refurbishment project for a cinema. However, workers had damaged part of the bomb, raising the likelihood that the explosive could detonate during Sunday's operation.

After removing the bomb, authorities said they would detonate it in a controlled environment next week.

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ls/cmb (AFP, AP)