Berlin : The authorities in Berlin on Friday successfully defused a 500 kg British WWII bomb found on Wednesday during construction work in the center of the city.

Evacuations of all buildings within 800 meters of the bomb site started from 9 a.m. local time to allow the defusing to take place at mid-day.

Berlin’s main train station falls within the evacuation area, according to the police.

Berlin’s main train station, which fell within the evacuation area, was also evacuated and thousands of passengers disrupted. Trains went through the station without stopping, Xinhua reported.

Immediately after the bomb was defused, authorities lifted all barriers around the site, and the main railway station was operational again by mid-afternoon.

The police said about 10,000 people were evacuated for this incident. A five-member team of fireworks blew up the detonator.

The police wrote on Twitter on Wednesday that the bomb was in a safe condition and it was not causing any immediate danger.

The discovery of unexploded bombs was not uncommon in Germany, but not so close to the city center. The bomb site was only within half kilometer from the main train station.

In September last year, a huge 1.4 tonne British unexploded bomb was found in Frankfurt. Almost 70,000 people, about one tenth of the city’s population, were evacuated for defusing, the biggest evacuation in post-war German history.

—IANS