RESIDENTS in Plymouth have been allowed to return home after a World War Two bomb found at a building site in Southway was made safe.
More than 1,200 homes had been evacuated, the BBC reported. A loud explosion was heard as the 250kg bomb was disarmed in a controlled detonation. The city council said there was no significant damage caused by the blast.
Col Nick Handy, who led the Army bomb disposal team, praised those involved and said the “guys and girls on the ground were excellent in everything that they did. We won.”
He said the explosion “could have been a lot bigger” and “was probably only a third of the explosive in that item of ordnance”.
A local veteran who had just returned from holiday said: “Within like 30 seconds of me shutting my door, there was a big loud explosion... it's been quite triggering”.
Col Handy said many more bombs could still be buried across the south coast. “As a result, the south coast is probably littered with bombs,” he told BBC. “Have we found them all? Absolutely not. Will we find more? Absolutely.”
He added: “We train for this, and we do not take it lightly.”
