Cologne (dpa / lnw) - A fire that broke out during the evacuation measures of all things delayed the defusing of a World War II bomb in Cologne. Due to the drought, the flames spread quickly, dark smoke was visible from afar, the city said on Tuesday. 3200 people are affected by the evacuation because of the dud.
A spokesman for the city said that they were still on the first round of ringing the bell - where every door rang and attention was drawn to the measures - when employees of the public order office discovered the fire.
The English five-hundredweight bomb with an impact detonator was discovered in Cologne-Buchheim on Tuesday morning. It had to be defused on the same day, it said. The people in a radius of 300 meters around the site have to leave their homes for the defusing. The cause of the fire was initially unclear. According to the city, the fire has nothing to do with the bomb.
