A 250-kilogram aerial bomb dating from the Second World War turned up during earthwork at a building site on ul. Kolejowa in Wrocław, where a hotel and office complex is being built. The plot has been fenced off and guarded by police since Thursday, 15 October. Residents know the site of the never-completed multi-storey car park as the 'Szkieletor'. Because of the weight of the device and the risk that it could be damaged during lifting, the city has prepared the operation in detail. Wrocław regularly finds wartime ordnance during digging, and the city's last large evacuation for this reason took place in July near ul. Trzemeskiej.
The city's crisis management team met on Monday, 19 October, and decided to push the evacuation back by an hour. Residents and workers in the zone must now leave their homes and premises by 9:30, not 8:30 as first planned. The zone covers a 300-metre ring around the work site, and about 3,000 people are expected to be moved out. Agata Dzikowska of the Wrocław city hall described the evacuation area as fairly large. Evacuated people will be sheltered at the National Forum of Music on Plac Wolności. Those who need a lift can board MPK buses at stops on ul. Grabiszyńska and Szpitalna, at the junction of Piłsudskiego and Kościuszki, and near Plac Legionów. Companies and service outlets in the zone will organise their own evacuations through their managers. Lessons at Technikum nr 15 on ul. Skwierzyńska have been cancelled.
The rail line must be closed while the sappers work, so no trains will run and nobody may stay on the viaduct. Rail traffic is expected to halt for roughly 20 to 30 minutes from about 10:30, and PKP PLK has warned of possible timetable changes on Tuesday morning until the operation ends. Road traffic is to be closed around 10:00 in the area, including ul. Piłsudskiego and ul. Grabiszyńska in both directions. Trams and buses near ul. Kolejowa are expected to stop for about two hours, with disruption to city transport lasting until about 11:00. Bartłomiej Bajak, director of the city's Security and Crisis Management Department, explained why the line has to close:
“While the device is being removed, the line obviously has to be closed, and nobody will be able to stay there.”
Police have also banned drone flights over the secured area, and individual rail carriers will publish any changes to their timetables.
The sequence below follows the most recent plan from the crisis team. Earlier reports had the sappers starting at 9:00 and the evacuation finishing by 8:30, and those times have since been superseded. Sappers are to start work between 10:00 and 10:30, with the bomb lifted around 10:30 and transport restrictions expected to run until about 11:00. The bomb is to be taken to a training ground once it has been lifted.
Bajak called on residents to plan their departure early and to follow the instructions of the emergency services closely. He stressed that cooperation from people in the zone would help limit the disruption to the area. Work on the device is scheduled for Tuesday, 20 October.
“Cooperation from the people staying in this zone will help limit the disruption and make the whole operation run more smoothly.”
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Sappers will remove a 250-kilogram World War II aerial bomb from a Wrocław building site on Tuesday, 20 October, requiring an evacuation of about 3,000 people and rail and road closures in the area.
AI text based on reports by Radio Wrocław, Wroclaw.pl, rmf24.pl and other publishers. Published .