More than 170 World War Bombs were discovered in children’s playgrounds in northern England, officials said, and more will be determined.
The first of the bombs – which still contained a charge – were discovered in the playground in Wooler, Northumberland in January, CBS News Partner BBC reported. A total of 176 bombs have now been found so far and the experts fear that more will be determined, according to the BBC.
The playground was being updated when the staff found a suspicious object while digging the foundation.
“It is something to think that the children played on bombs and it was a really difficult situation,” said local advisor Mark Matthe at the BBC.
Wooler’s parish council said in a statement This investigations on the Brimstone site was hired to study the playing field and that it quickly became obvious that “the extent of the problem was much larger than anyone had planned”.
The officials said 65 Practice bombs Weighing about 10 pounds each was found in an area of less than 10 square meters. The smoke cartridges were recovered in the same pit.
90 other training bombs were found in an area of about 20 square feet.
“Due to the large amount of buried ammunition, the site survey could not be carried out during the 2 days scheduled and another deployment would be necessary,” officials said in a statement.
It is believed that the area where the playing field was initially built was used as a training ground for the home care and the bombs were buried at the end of the war, the BBC reported.
“I never thought that, as a parish counselor, I would take care of the elimination of bombs,” said it to the media.
According to Mother, the work to have bombs should continue at least until February.
He said he was not immediately clear that would pay for all the work, but that the county of Northumberland had agreed to cover the cost.
“The army will not support us in any way, nor the search for the munière or withdraw it, which has been extremely disappointing,” said Matt at the BBC.
The Ministry of Defense confirmed to the BBC that a team had attended the site twice in January but had not spoken to the allegations of the local council.
“Obviously, this discovery was unexpected, but we are delighted to have been able to find additional funding to allow this crucial work to be done safely,” said a spokesperson for the county council in a press release.
The unploded bombs of the Second World War exploded without warning before. Last October, a bomb fallen by the United States during the war exploded at an airport in Japancausing a large crater on a track. In 2023, a bomb of the Second World War exploded In Great Yarmouth, England, in what the authorities called an “unforeseen” detonation.
