Czech authorities have detonated an unexploded World War II bomb discovered last week at a large Czech petrochemical plant, the fire department said.
Police set up a six-day security perimeter around the plant in Zaluzhi, about 100 km northwest of Prague, after workers discovered the munition in a remote part of the plant's grounds on August 21, AFP reported.
They ordered hundreds of people to leave their homes and the plant, run by Polish gasoline giant Orlen, was shut down.
"The detonation of the bomb was successful. The blast occurred at 12:13 p.m. We are carrying out a thorough inspection of the scene. Initial visual search shows that there is no major visible damage in the area," the fire service said, releasing photos from the scene taken by drone.
Firefighters had isolated the bomb with sandbags before the blast.
The 250-pound British-made aerial bomb was equipped with a unique chemical detonator that slowed its explosion, which police said made it particularly dangerous.
"The danger and rarity of this discovery lies in the triggering mechanism, which can be set for up to 144 hours or 6 days," police said last week.
In addition to the 1.5 sq km perimeter, Czech police ordered 600 people to evacuate.
The factory, which served the Nazi war effort during the German occupation of what was then Czechoslovakia, was targeted by Allied bombing in 1944 | BGNES
