More than 3,000 people have been instructed to vacate their homes within two hours after the discovery of a suspected World War Two bomb in a garden. The unexploded device was found in Plymouth’s Keyham area on Tuesday morning, triggering days of intensive investigations by bomb experts on how best to handle it.
On Friday, they determined that the 500kg bomb would be transported along a cordoned-off route through Plymouth, loaded onto a ship, and safely disposed of at sea. Plymouth City Council declared at midday that residents within 300 metres of the garden on St Michael Avenue and the route to Torpoint Ferry slipway must evacuate by 2 pm and might not be allowed back until at least 5 pm.
The Ministry of Defence termed it ‘one of the largest UK peacetime evacuation operations since WW2’. An alert was sent to people’s phones using the government Emergency Alert system, which was nationally tested and set live in April last year. It is believed to be the first real-life incident in which the system has been deployed.
