Bomb (Air Delivered) event in Hesse, Rüdesheim am Rhein area, Germany on Tue 20th September 2022

The bomb found near Rüdesheim in the Rheingau was successfully detonated on Thursday afternoon. Car, train and ship traffic had to be stopped - but only for a very short time. That went quickly: just under half an hour after all the blocking measures had been completed, the bomb found near Rüdesheim was detonated on Thursday afternoon. At 12:02 p.m., the civil protection of the Rheingau-Taunus district gave the all-clear: "The bomb was detonated as planned," the agency tweeted. After a final check of the affected area, the closures were finally lifted. The 125-kilogram aerial bomb from the Second World War was discovered on Tuesday during exploratory measures below the Niederwald hunting lodge. While two more duds could be defused directly, the detonator of the third bomb had rusted so hard that it had to be detonated. B42, rail and ship traffic closed A restricted radius of 1,000 meters was therefore set up around the site. Part of the B42, the railway line on the right bank of the Rhine and the Rhine between Rüdesheim and Assmannshausen also had to be closed for a short time. Even planes were not allowed to fly over the area during the blast. In Assmannshausen, individual residential buildings were also evacuated. The ferry between Bingen (Rhineland-Palatinate) and Rüdesheim, on the other hand, remained in operation, as did the cable car to the Niederwald monument. The forest paths and the vineyards between Assmannshausen and the Niederwald monument, on the other hand, had already been closed in the morning. Tons of sand and water Because the dud was in a rocky forest area, extensive preparations were necessary. In order to cushion the pressure, the bomb was covered with 30 tons of sand and 25,000 liters of water, according to the Darmstadt regional council. The blast then went smoothly.