Italian Town Evacuated After British WW2 Bomb Discovered

Image: Municipality of Fano.

A large British bomb from World War Two that was accidentally dug up in an Italian town seaside town has been moved to the sea.

Some 23,000 people in Fano were evacuated on Tuesday night as a precaution while the 500lb bomb was transported to sea. The bomb was discovered during excavation work.

Italian army bomb disposal experts said on Wednesday that it will be detonated at sea after a 144-hour wait.

That is the maximum time required to see if the device explodes on its own if its time-delayed trigger was accidentally activated during the excavation.

The Italian navy took the bomb out to an area in the Adriatic outside navigation routes.

The accidental unearthing of Allied bombs is an occasional event in Italy.