- This news is breaking: more to follow
Some 20,000 people will have to evacuate their homes in Berlin on Friday after two unexploded Second World War bombs were found in the German capital.
Government buildings were shuttered late Thursday after police confirmed a 1940s-era bomb had been recovered from the Spree river earlier in the day.
Around 7,500 people were told to leave Fischerinsel, south of the river, and police went door-to-door asking locals in the touristic Mitte district to leave.
Residents in the densely populated area around the bomb were told to leave over the ‘mortal danger’ of a potential explosion, according to an emergency advisory notice.
A 500 metre exclusion zone has been set up around the explosive, including Berlin’s city hall. Police confirmed early Friday that the evacuation was complete.
Queues formed around emergency shelters set up in Mitte town hall and a nearby school as subways and streets were closed, German outlet DW reported.
A second bomb from the war weighing 100kg was recovered a day prior, on Wednesday, in the Spandau district, and is due to be defused today.
More than 12,000 people will be required to evacuate from the area around that explosive while the bomb is defused.
