More news emerging on WWII bomb discovered on Plymouth site.
Late last night, we brought you the news that Bristol-based Wring Group had achieved an unenviable double, uncovering the second unexploded World War II bomb in just three months. Today, as work continues on the site, local newspapers are providing more information.
Within minutes of the bomb being discovered, police threw a cordon around Notte Street, cleared the Holiday Inn and other nearby buildings with some being taken to the Duke of Cornwall hotel, according to This is Devon. Once again, Plymouth Pavilions was used as the main evacuation centre during the major emergency operation.
Sgt Andy Smith said: “On the advice of the bomb disposal team we set up an exclusion zone of 150 to 200 metres. Initially it was quite difficult at rush hour and unfortunately there was a bit of traffic chaos. Things were brought under control quite quickly and an emergency plan was put into action. Experience from previous events like this have helped us to cope with incident.”
Duncan Rudall, regional operation manger for Wring said the team were on the “final run of the job” and were working on “additional foundations” when the device was discovered. He said: “Basically, there was something there before the Naafi building and the team were having to going down a little deeper into foundations. The 40 tonne machine was excavating and it came out of the bucket. Fortunately, it wasn’t the same driver, but the bomb looks very, very similar.”
Tim Sharp, site supervisor who was at the scene when the bomb was dug up. He said: “I was on the other side of the site and the guys were working away. The next minute they called me over and one of them was on the phone to let police know they’d found what was believed to be a bomb. We quickly got into the van and as we were leaving the police were closing off Notte Street. It was eerie with no traffic and lots of officers. The bomb actually appears to be a little bigger in diameter than the last one. My father was the person who found that, but he’s working at another site today – I’ve already phoned him to let him know we found another one.”
Read the full story here.
