Residents of Kordelio district are seen aboard a bus after authorities ordered the evacuation of the area in order to defuse a 500-pound unexploded World War II bomb, in Thessaloniki, Greece Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017. Bomb disposal experts are to tackle the device, found buried beneath a gas station, on Sunday in an operation expected to last about six hours, with all residents in a nearly 2-kilometer radius being evacuated.

Start the conversation, or Read more at Albany Times Union. </s> Technicians worked for hours Sunday to successfully defuse a World War II-era bomb that had been lying dormant under the bustling streets of Frankfurt for some seven decades.

The 4,000 pound bomb was discovered Tuesday at a construction site for Goethe University faculty buildings, reports The New York Times. It is believed to have been dropped by the British Royal Air Force.

Everybody within a mile radius of the bomb had to leave Sunday morning, leading to an evacuation of more than 60,000 people.

The BBC says it was the largest evacuation in Germany since the end of World War II. Experts warned that if the bomb accidentally went off, it would be powerful enough to flatten an entire street.

There were no exceptions to the rule: everybody had to clear out, including those inside hospitals, nursing homes and Germany's central bank.

Premature babies and ICU patients were among those who got out, says the BBC.

For those who opted not to go far, the city opened its convention center and museums offered free entry.

Police used a heat-sensitive camera to ensure nobody remained before experts went to work defusing the 2-ton bomb, reports The Times.

It was a job that has been done many times over; on average about 2,000 tons of unexploded ordnance are found every year across the country, reports the BBC. Every couple of weeks, Germany's bomb-disposal unit disables a bomb and says the work should last for years to come.

There are believed to still be hundreds of thousands of unexploded bombs dropped during WW II remaining throughout Germany.

The Two-Way reported in May that 50,000 people had to evacuate the German city of Hanover while experts defused three British bombs.



Millions of tons of bombs were dropped over the course of the war, many of which never went off. And so, cities were rebuilt and life went on over ordnance that is still able to wreak havoc. About a dozen bomb technicians have been killed in Germany since 2000, reports Smithsonian Magazine. And the danger may be getting worse. (NPR's) Soraya (Sarhaddi Nelson) says, "Undetonated World War II bombs, of which there are thousands still buried around Germany, are becoming more dangerous with time because of components breaking down."



Just a day before Frankfurt's evacuation, around 21,000 residents had to leave their homes in the western city of Koblenz, while a 1,100-pound American bomb was defused.

Frankfurt Police called the bomb defused Sunday, "the defeated beast" and tweeted images of it being loaded onto a truck and driven away.

City officials said residents of the evacuated neighborhood should be allowed to return to their homes by 8:00 p.m. local time. </s> Bomb disposal experts have successfully defused a huge Second World War bomb in the German financial capital Frankfurt that forced the evacuation of more than 60,000 residents, police said.

Hospital patients and the elderly were among those affected in what was Germany's biggest evacuation in recent history.

Similar operations are still common 72 years after the war ended. About 20,000 people were evacuated from the western city of Koblenz before specialists disarmed a 1,100lb US bomb on Saturday.

Officials ordered residents to evacuate their homes within a mile radius of the site in Germany's financial capital.

Dozens of ambulances lined up early Sunday to pick up anyone unable to independently leave the danger zone. </s> THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — A massive evacuation has begun in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki so experts can defuse a 500-pound unexploded World War II bomb.

Police went house-to-house Sunday morning, ringing bells and knocking on doors to remind people living within a 1.9-kilometer (1.18-mile) radius of the bomb site to leave their homes. Most were leaving in their cars, but some were being transported by bus to schools, sports halls and cultural centers elsewhere in the city, where they can get food and shelter.

Authorities believe about 75,000 people will be evacuated, most from the western suburb of Kordelio. A state of emergency has been declared in the area involved and about 1,000 police and 300 volunteers are helping in the evacuation. Trains have been halted in the area and church services cancelled.

Residents of Kordelio district are seen aboard a bus after authorities ordered the evacuation of the area in order to defuse a 500-pound unexploded World War II bomb, in Thessaloniki, Greece Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017. Bomb disposal experts are to tackle the device, found buried beneath a gas station, on Sunday in an operation expected to last about six hours, with all residents in a nearly 2-kilometer (1.2-mile) radius being evacuated. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)

The bomb, dropped during an air raid in the 1940s, was found earlier this month during work to expand storage tanks under a gas station. Defusing it is expected to take about six hours.

"It's the first time something like this is happening in Greece," Thessaloniki Deputy Governor Voula Patoulidou told The Associated Press.

Residents of Kordelio district board a taxi after authorities ordered the evacuation of the area in order to defuse a 500-pound unexploded World War II bomb, in Thessaloniki, Greece Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017. Bomb disposal experts are to tackle the device, found buried beneath a gas station, on Sunday in an operation expected to last about six hours, with all residents in a nearly 2-kilometer (1.2-mile) radius being evacuated. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)

Residents of Kordelio district board a bus after authorities ordered the evacuation of the area in order to defuse a 500-pound unexploded World War II bomb, in Thessaloniki, Greece Sunday, Feb. 12, 2017. Bomb disposal experts are to tackle the device, found buried beneath a gas station, on Sunday in an operation expected to last about six hours, with all residents in a nearly 2-kilometer (1.2-mile) radius being evacuated. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)

Experts check the location where an unexploded World War II bomb was found 5 meters (over 16 feet) deep, at a gas station in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2016. Authorities in Greece's second-largest city on Sunday are planning to evacuate up to 60,000 residents from their homes so experts can safely dispose of the unexploded World War II bomb. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)

An employee of a gas station checks the location where an unexploded World War II bomb was found 5 meters (over 16 feet) deep, in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki, on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2016. Authorities in Greece's second-largest city on Sunday are planning to evacuate up to 60,000 residents from their homes so experts can safely dispose of the unexploded World War II bomb. (AP Photo/Giannis Papanikos)
Bomb disposal experts successfully defuse the bomb.