Evacuations under way after WWII bomb found in Germany's Heidelberg

Police in the south-western German city of Heidelberg have begun to evacuate thousands of people ahead of the planned removal of a World War II bomb near the central station, a spokesperson said Friday, reported dpa.

Emergency personnel are going door to door and informing those affected via loudspeakers, he said. Kindergartens, schools, colleges and businesses in the area will remain closed. Only the railway station is to remain open as long as possible.

The whole area is to be completely evacuated by noon (1100 GMT), according to the police. The central station will then briefly be closed while the bomb is defused.

The 250-kilogram ordnance was discovered on Thursday during construction work near the railway station. It was then secured by a bomb disposal team and guarded overnight by the police within a 50-metre exclusion zone.

Germany is fairly accustomed to finding unexploded World War II ordnance. Most are defused by bomb disposal experts without incident.