City returns to normal after wartime bomb is detonated
Birmingham city centre was returning to normal today after two days of severe disruption following the discovery on an unexploded wartime bomb on a construction site in Aston.
Army bomb disposal experts safely carried out a controlled explosion (see video below) on the 550lb device yesterday afternoon and surrounding the ordnance with 250 tonnes of sand to minimise blast damage. The device is thought to be one of the largest ever wartime bombs unearthed in the UK.
As a precaution, traffic was halted along the M6 for a 13-mile stretch between Junctions 7 at Great Barr and 4 (Coventry North) while the detonation was carried out.
After the area was deemed safe, restrictions were lifted and the entry and exit slips roads to the M6 at Spaghetti Junction were reopened and traffic allowed back onto the A38 Aston Expressway for the first time since Monday morning.
Dozens of people evacuated from their homes and businesses during the operation were allowed to return last night.
Roads around the area were badly congested for several hours following the motorway closure and train services – especially to Lichfield and Sutton Coldfield – were badly disrupted or cancelled.
A WMP drone captures the explosive moment a controlled detonation was carried out on a German WW2 bomb found on a building site in Aston pic.twitter.com/KmUGAeSa4h
— West Midlands Police (@WMPolice) May 16, 2017
