Almost 14,000 evacuated in Polish city after unexploded WWII bomb found

Nearly 14,000 people were advised to evacuate their homes in the city of Lublin this morning after an unexploded Second World War bomb was found during construction work. Army sappers have now safely removed the device and residents are able to return to their homes.

The device – reportedly a 250kg aerial bomb – was found in an area where an airport and aircraft factory had been located before the war in Lublin, eastern Poland.

Under German occupation during the war, it served as a prisoner-of-war camp, a labour camp and a place for the segregation and storage of looted Jewish property, reports broadcaster TVP. Currently, a large housing estate is being built there.

Residents were warned in advance about this morning’s evacuation, which was carried out with the assistance of 200 territorial soldiers and police officers. The city authorities advised people to turn off their gas, water and electricity before leaving their homes.

They were then taken on buses to an assembly point at the Arena Lublin stadium. Once the evacuation was complete, sappers began their work, and by 2 p.m. they had managed to remove the unexploded bomb.

The discovery of munitions, weapons and other material from World War Two is common in Poland, which saw intense fighting after being invaded and occupied by both Germany and the Soviet Union.

Just this week, in the village of Bełżec, 130 kilometres away from Lublin, workers found an unexploded 50 kg bomb, nine artillery shells and a hand grenade during construction work at the train station. As in Lublin, nearby residents were evacuated while the items were removed.

Last month, workers carrying out renovation at a primary school in central Poland discovered dozens of unexploded artillery shells from the Second World War.

Last year, thousands of residents of Wrocław, Poland’s third largest city, were evacuated after a half-tonne bomb was discovered on a housing estate during construction work. Another evacuation was ordered in the same city this year after an unexploded German bomb was found.

In February, an 11-year-old girl was hospitalised with serious injuries reportedly after her brother accidentally shot her with a World War Two rifle he had found in the forest.

Last year, the wreckage of an American World War Two bomber was located at the bottom of a lagoon in Poland. In 2020, sappers detonated a British 5.4-tonne bomb lying underwater near the Polish city of Świnoujście. It was the largest unexploded ordnance ever found in Poland.

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Main image credit: Jakub Orzechowski / Agencja Wyborcza.pl

Alicja Ptak

Alicja Ptak is senior editor at Notes from Poland and a multimedia journalist. She previously worked for Reuters.