FRANKFURT, GERMANY — Explosives experts in Frankfurt on Sunday defused a massive bomb — a remnant of the last World War more than 70 years ago. <br /> <br />CNN reports that the 1.4 ton HC 4000 bomb was found buried at a construction site close to Goethe University's Frankfurt campus on Tuesday. <br /> <br />The discovery prompted authorities to cordon off a 1.5-kilometer radius danger zone around the explosive. Over 60,000 people were evacuated from the area, which was home to hospitals, retirement homes, and the Bundesbank, Germany's central bank. <br /> <br />Dubbed 'Blockbuster', the British World War II-era bomb could reportedly generate an explosion capable of flattening an entire block. <br /> <br />Of the estimated 1.5 million tons of munitions dropped on Germany by Allied forces, some 15% failed to explode and ended up getting buried, according to the New York Times. Experts say over 2,000 tons of unexploded weaponry are found in the country each year. <br /> <br />Despite having a dedicated bomb-disposal unit, Germany's unexploded bombs remain a problem. The aging munitions could become more brittle and unstable, and are reportedly being spotted in harder-to-reach areas, reports the BBC.
