WWII bomb kills man in the Czech Republic during excavation

A World War II bomb exploded early Friday in Ostrava, Czech Republic after a man attempted to cut it during excavation work, killing him and injuring another.

According to police, the deceased most likely mistook the explosive for an old sewage pipe.

“He used an angle grinder to cut up the metal and the bomb went off,” they added. We can confirm it was an aerial bomb explosion,” police spokesperson Eva Michalikova told Agence France-Presse.

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According to local media, a 49-year-old guy died and a 31-year-old man received a minor head injury. About 50 individuals were evacuated from homes within 300 metres (yards) of the site by police.

Ammunition and bombs from World War II are frequently discovered in the northeastern Czech Republic, where the Red Army made a push in the spring of 1945.

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Even in 2021, police had to evacuate hundreds of individuals due to unexploded aerial bombs. According to Sputnik, local police detonated a 100-kilogram WWII bomb in a residential neighbourhood of the Czech Republic city of Ostrava, forcing approximately 1,300 residents to escape the area.

As per a police spokesperson, the explosive was discovered by a man digging in the ground near his home, and he reported it to authorities. The first engineer on the scene issued the order to evacuate everyone within 800 metres, which houses approximately 1,300 people.

According to the spokeswoman, after fleeing their homes, some residents took sanctuary at a local school’s gym, while others boarded a fireman’s bus.

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The Czech Republic is bordered by Germany, which has also seen numerous such World War II munitions survive and be unearthed even 70 years after the war ended. According to estimates, 15% of World War II bombs did not explode and, in some circumstances, are still lying beneath the surface.

In 2019, there was a large explosion in Southern Germany that shocked the locals. The authorities found after an inquiry that it was “very probably” the result of a World War II bomb.