Navy divers in Poland are defusing a World War Two bomb dropped near a channel of the Baltic Sea. Hundreds of residents have fled.
The bomb, a five-ton explosive device nicknamed a "Tallboy" or the "Earthquake Bomb," was originally dropped by the Royal Air Force on a German warship. The device, dropped in 1945, missed its target and remained underwater until it was last year dredged close to the port city of Swinoujscie - formerly Swinemunde.
"It's a world first. Nobody has ever defused a Tallboy that is so well preserved and underwater," the Polish Navy's 8th Coastal Defense Flotilla based in Swinoujscie said.
According to the officials, the defusing of the bomb would likely take until Friday depending on the weather. The head of the diving team, Michal Jodloski, said the process will likely be slow as only one diver will be allowed to remain underwater at a time to work on defusing the bomb.
As a precaution, the Navy had decided to evacuate everyone living within a 2.5-kilometer radius of where the bomb is being defused. Around 750 local residents have reportedly been temporarily transferred while the operation is being conducted.
Apart from the evacuations, all maritime traffic within the surrounding channels and waterways has been suspended. Navy officials noted that the first two or three days of the operations will be to prepare for the defusing of the bomb. Officials added that the process is a very "delicate job" as any unwanted vibrations could potentially detonate the bomb.
A controlled explosion of the massive bomb was removed as an option as experts pointed out that it could lead to the destruction of a bridge located around 500 meters away. The Navy has opted to instead defuse the bomb through a technique called deflagration, which essentially destroys the explosive charge within the device.
The bomb, which measures 6 meters long, is equivalent to about 3.6 tons of TNT. The device was meant to explode underground when dropped and destroy targets with its shock waves. During the war, the area was home to several German bases and was subject to heavy bombardments.
