SARAJEVO, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- A World War II air bomb was found on Thursday morning in the center of Bosnia and Herzegovina's (BiH's) capital Sarajevo and destroyed the same day, Director of Federal Department of Civilian Protection (FUCZ) Fahrudin Solak told Xinhua.
An English-made air bomb, weighing 500 kilograms, was found 5 meters in the ground by construction workers during the digging process.
Solak explained that the bomb was dropped on November 7, 8, 9 or 10, back in 1944, when the site was used as stock by Germans, after which it was bombed.
For the last 75 years, the bomb has been representing a threat for some 17,000 people living in Novi Grad in Sarajevo.
After the site was blocked for traffic and residents living in proximity were evacuated, FUCZ members reacted swiftly and immediately deactivated the bomb's lighter.
"When we were preparing the bomb for the transport, we determined that the lighter was in such a condition that it had to be removed immediately," Solak said, adding that the lighter was successfully removed and the detonator destroyed.
"All the elements that could lead to an explosion of the bomb were removed," Solak added.
Back in 2013, a WWII air bomb weighing 227 kilograms was found and neutralized in the nearby site.
