The discovery of a stash of chemical warfare agents preserved since World War II prompted the evacuation of the residents in the eastern German town of Leuna in Saxony-Anhalt, local media reports.
An unexploded smoke aerial bomb and six integrated paper
cartridges, all manufactured in Germany, were found at the site.
Residents in a radius of 300 meters have been evacuated.
An expert team from the nearby town of Halle has been called to
the scene for the liquidation of chemical weapons.
The defusing of the WWII era weapons should be started after
noon, said deputy mayor Volker Stein as cited by Mitteldeutsche
Zeitung.
Some media have reported a hazardous gas escaped the rusted
containers.
The town of Leuna is a leading industrial site in Central
Germany, which houses one of the biggest chemical industrial
complexes in the country, producing a wide range of chemicals and
plastics.
The discovery of WWII weapons in the region is common. On
Tuesday, a bomb weighing 250 kg was discovered in a farmer’s
field. 120 bombs have been found and defused in the region
since 1992.