Paris Trains Stopped After Unexploded 1,000+ lbs. WWII Bomb Discovered
Travel across Europe faced significant disruptions following the discovery of a World War II-era bomb near the Gare du Nord in Paris on Friday morning. The bomb, weighing 1,000 pounds and containing 400 pounds of explosives, was found by landscaping workers during a bridge renovation project about a mile and a half from the train station. The bomb was buried approximately six and a half feet underground and had the potential to cause severe damage if disturbed.
French authorities initiated a complex defusal operation that lasted for over 12 hours, leading to the cancellation of around 500 trains and affecting more than half a million travelers across platforms like Eurostar. Philippe Tabarot, France’s transportation minister, noted the seriousness of the operation, while Christophe Pezron from the Paris police emphasized the dangers presented by the unexploded device.
Evacuations were mandated for surrounding buildings, and the situation highlighted ongoing concerns regarding unexploded ordnance from WWII in urban areas of France. International rail service was restored by Saturday, allowing stranded travelers to resume their journeys. France has been recovering and defusing these past artifacts, with over 700,000 bombs and almost 50 million mines, shells, and other weapons cleared since WWII ended.
Travel across Europe was snarled Friday after a World War II-era bomb was discovered near the Gare du Nord in Paris, where trains crisscrossing the continent connect.
The bomb was discovered at about 3:30 a.m. Friday about a mile and a half from the Gare du Nord, according to The New York Times. The bomb was found by workers who were landscaping at a bridge renovation project.
The 1,000-pound bomb, which contained about 400 pounds of explosives was about three feet long and was buried about six and a half feet below the surface.
BREAKING: French police have released images of the unexploded Second World War bomb that has disrupted travel for thousands of Eurostar passengers.
Read more: https://t.co/WgXDg7G70B
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“This was not a trivial operation,” Philippe Tabarot, France’s transportation minister, said after the 12-hour operation to defuse the bomb had ended.
The bomb was first moved into a hole before bomb disposal experts unscrewed and destroyed the fuse “like you see in the movies,” Christophe Pezron, who heads the Paris police laboratory in charge of bomb disposal, said, according to the Associated Press.
The British-made bomb could have caused major damage, he said, if hit by construction equipment.
“It’s the fourth one we’ve found in this area since 2019,” Pezron said.
The BBC noted that British and American planes bombed Paris during the war.
Finding unexploded bombs “doesn’t happen every day, but it happens,” Fabien Villedieu, a leader of a union of railway workers said.
The bomb was about 600 feet from a heavily traveled road. Evacuations were ordered of buildings with windows facing a potential blast site.
“It’s in the middle of an urban zone,” he said.
France’s Interior Ministry said since the end of World War II in 1945, more than 700,000 bombs dropped on France have been defused, as have an estimated nearly 50 million mines, shells and other weapons, according to AP.
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General chaos since this morning at Gare du Nord, the busiest train station in Europe.
During night-time work carried out in Saint-Denis, approximately 2.5 kilometers from Gare du Nord, workers discovered a 500kg bomb, WWII era.
Police are working to defuse the device. pic.twitter.com/iAzR5xNT0U
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The process to remove the bomb led to the cancellation of about 500 trains that impacted more than half a million people, Tabarot estimated.
The cancellations included Eurostar service that left travelers stranded in England as well as on the continent, according to the BBC.
International train service was restored on Saturday.
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