Bombs Away!

On Monday, March 23, 2015, an unexploded World War II bomb was found under a building site in south London.

The bomb was five feet long and weighed 1,000 lbs. It was buried 2-3 meters (6.5-9.8 feet) underground, and if it were to have gone off, it would have destroyed the buildings near it and damage houses up to 650 feet away. Tower Bridge was shut down, and over 1,200 homes were evacuated during the night. Residents were not allowed to return to their homes until the British army had safely removed the bomb. “It’s a huge bomb and we can’t take any risks with the thing,” said Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, after apologizing for the major traffic jams the removal of the bomb had caused.

The bomb was taken to a quarry in Cliffe, Kent, on March 25, 2015, where it was detonated.