WWII Bomb Leads to Evacuation of Downtown Sarajevo

The following is an article submitted by an anonymous UXOInfo.com reader.

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina On November 9, construction workers found an unexploded WWII bomb during excavations in a heavily populated area of downtown Sarajevo. The bomb was found within a 250 meter radius of two primary schools, a police station, a national TV building, and residential buildings.

It is estimated that there were approximately 12,000 people in the area of the bomb's discovery site. Federal Administration of Civil Protection EOD technicians immediately tasked to the site identified the munition as a 500 lbs US bomb, however it was partially buried in the clay and had to be fully uncovered for an exact identification.

After the local residents from the buildings facing the bomb were evacuated and all others within 500 meters radius were placed on precautions, including a day off for students in nearby schools, temporary dislocation of the police station and all traffic suspension within same radius, the bomb (shown below) was fully uncovered and identified as an M76 500-lb incendiary bomb.

A Render Safe Procedure (RSP) was executed on November 18. Extensive safety measures were undertaken as an element of the operation which included four fire trucks with crews, more than 60 police officers and five paramedic teams present. All inhabitants within 500 meters radius were temporarily dislocated. After the RSP was successfully executed, the bomb was transported to the demolition range, Lapov Dol, 45 km south from Sarajevo and destroyed by a controlled burn.

This is the first WWII era unexploded incendiary bomb uncovered in Sarajevo, and it is supposed that it was used against marshaling yards and railway workshops which were located 500-600 meters northwest and heavily raided by Mediterranean Allied Strategic Air Force (MASAF) during 1944.