50,000 Evacuated in Hannover, Germany, After Discovery Of World War Two Bombs

Approximately 50,000 people have been evacuated from their homes in Hannover, Germany, following the discovery of five World War Two bombs.

Experts have move into to try and diffuse the bombs in what is the second-largest operation of its kind in modern German history.

Of the evacuated buildings, seven were care homes while others included a clinic and a Continental tyre plant.

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People are expected to be allowed back in their homes later this evening, after being given a deadline to leave their homes by 9am.

Residents were advised to take necessary items, such as medication, with them, as well as turning off any gas or electrical supplies.

The city has set up a programme of museum tours, children's films, and sporting events to help people spend the day as 'normal' or as 'comfortable' as possible. Soup kitchens are also being set up, according to the Germany news agency DPA.

Initially 13 suspicious objects were investigated, but only five were considered as World War Two bombs, two of which were on a building site within the City, and a further three nearby.

Hannover was subject to heavy bombing during the Second World War, particularly over one night in 1943.

On October 9, 1,245 people were killed as allied forces dropped 261,000 bombs onto the North German city. A further 250,000 were left homeless.

On Christmas Day last year, over 50,000 people were evacuated from Augsburg in South Germany over a similar concern. That time it was over one large, 1.8 tonne British explosive from a 1944 air raid.

Since 2010, there have been four further incidents of bomb-related matters in Germany. In June 2010 three members of a bomb disposal squad were killed in Goettingen following the discovery of a bomb on a building site.

In 2011, 45,000 people were evacuated in Koblenz after two bombs were discovered. In 2012 a construction worker was killed when his digger hit an unexploded bomb in Euskirchen. And in 2015, 20,000 were evacuated in Cologne after a one-tonne bomb was discovered.

An estimated 60 million people died during the Second World War which occurred from 1939-1945 and resulted into the collapse of Nazi Germany. However, with such discoveries, it helps, even to this day, to shed a light on the atrocities and uncertainty that people faced during the six-year period.