Families Evacuated as Experts Defuse WWII Bomb in East London

Last night, a spokesperson for Tower Hamlets Council said: ‘After discussions with the Army, the London Fire Brigade, and the Metropolitan Police, we have agreed to extend to exclusion zone to 200 metres.

Police have advised motorists to avoid several roads including: Old Bethnal Green Road, Warner Place, Squarres Street, Bethnal Green Road, Cambridge Heath Road and Hackney Road.

Flooding and storms last year led to a steep increase in the amount of devices discovered, which presented a “massive threat”, according to Simon Cooke, a former major and bomb disposal officer with the Royal Engineers who is now managing director of a company which attempts to pinpoint UXO locations.

Earlier this year they detonated similar devices discovered in Wembley and Bermondsey.

But the Luftwaffe’s 250kg terror device which failed to go off in 1941 was finally made harmless this-afternoon-24 hours after it was found by workmen and more than seven decades lying undisturbed in the ground.

He said the bomb was located in the cellar of a three-storey building which had “severely restricted access”.

The LFB tweeted a picture to show the number of bombs that fell in the area during the Second World War, which gives you some idea of why finding unexploded ones is relatively common.

“We understand that this will cause inconvenience for a lot of residents”, a council spokesman said late Monday.

Emergency services cordoned off much of Temple Street in Bethnal Green as units analysed the unexploded mortar shell.

Army’s bomb disposal experts have been working overnight to try and defuse the bomb.

An emergency rest centre had to be set up at Bethnal Green Academy school nearby where 150 people spent the night after a 600ft radius around Temple Street was sealed off. They were given beds, food, drink, blankets and washbags.

Army experts were called in from Colchester around 4pm, as part of a long-standing partnership with the Met police, said the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

The London Fire Brigade station manager Matt Burrows told the BBC News that a “great deal of work” had to be done to safely defuse the bomb.