Officials in Germany's western city of Koblenz say some 45,000 residents have to be evacuated as officials try to defuse a World War II era bomb discovered in the Rhine river.
City officials said on Saturday the massive British 1.8 tonne bomb will be defused early tomorrow, requiring all residents within a radius of about 2 kilometres from the bomb site to leave their homes for the day.
Officials say seven nursing homes, two hospitals and a prison are also being evacuated. Train and road traffic in the area, some 130km northwest of Frankfurt, will come to a halt.
The British bomb was found last week alongside a 275-pound bomb dropped there by US forces during WWII, after Rhine's water level fell due to lack of rain.