Italian city evacuates 54,000 people to defuse WW2 bomb

A file picture dated Dec 25, 2016, of a British bomb that was dropped over the German town of Ausburg. About 54,000 people were evacuated from the southern Italian city of Brindisi on Dec 15, 2019 as experts worked to defuse a World War Two bomb, authorities said. – Reuters

MILAN (Reuters) - Around 54,000 people were evacuated from the southern Italian city of Brindisi on Sunday as experts worked to defuse a World War Two bomb, authorities said.

Corriere della Sera daily said the operation was the biggest peacetime evacuation in Italy, with more than 60% of the city's residents forced to vacate a "red zone" in a radius of 1,617 metres from where the bomb was found.