WW2 bomb to be blown up as 1,200 homes evacuated

A World War Two bomb discovered at a building site in Plymouth will be destroyed in a controlled explosion on Friday.

More than 1,200 nearby homes have been evacuated as part of a 400m (1,300ft) exclusion zone around the site in the Southway area of the city.

Col Nick Handy, the senior explosives officer leading the operation, said the 250kg German SC250 bomb could not be moved because its fuses could not be fully assessed.

He said teams would be working through the night to put large quantities of sand around the bomb to "limit most of the damage" to the surrounding area.

"A lot of people say 'Well it's been in the ground for 80 years, what's the problem with it?'" he told reporters.

"The simple reason is, the fuses are the thing that makes it go bang."

He said X-ray examinations had failed to give a clear picture of one of the fuses.

"Unfortunately we cannot get a definitive X-ray of the second fuse and therefore it's not safe to move that item," he said.

"So we're going to blow it in situ."

The colonel said large quantities of sand were being used to build a structure around the bomb to limit blast and fragmentation during the explosion, and teams were working through the night to prepare the site.

"We're going to try our hardest to deflagrate that item and burn it inside of a structure that will limit the damage to the local surroundings," he said.

"I'm pretty confident that the mitigation that we put up will limit most of the damage."

He added: "We're going to work tirelessly through the night to ensure that that mitigation protects the buildings that face the site and indeed cover the item to ensure the least amount of blast and fragmentation comes out from the area where we do our work."

People living inside the cordon have been told to leave their homes and police and the Royal Navy warned that no-one should re-enter the exclusion zone for any reason until the operation was complete.

Southway Youth and Community Centre has been opened as an evacuation centre, with Plymouth City Council also arranging hotel accommodation for those unable to stay with friends or family.

Devon and Cornwall Police said there were no plans to extend the cordon, but warned the situation could change based on safety advice.

Oakwood Primary School, Little Acorns Pre-School and Beechwood Primary School will remain closed on Friday as safety operations continue.

The city was heavily bombed during World War Two and unexploded ordnance is still occasionally discovered.

In February 2024, more than 10,000 people were evacuated from homes in the Keyham area of Plymouth after a separate wartime bomb was found in a back garden.