The bomb disposal operation of a bomb discovered on April 10 in Colombes took a more complex turn on Sunday: specialists were unable to extract the detonator from the device.
The extraction of the detonator of a World War II bomb failed on Sunday afternoon in Colombes, Hauts-de-Seine, forcing the bomb disposal experts to bury the device to explode it, as announced by the police headquarters, prolonging the wait for thousands of evacuated residents.
Two configurations were considered from the beginning of the operation at 10:30 a.m. The specialists from the central laboratory of the police headquarters tried to extract the detonator from the device discovered on April 10 on Champarons street, but this maneuver was unfortunately not possible, according to the prefecture.
Therefore, the bomb disposal experts will proceed to bury the ammunition in a specially dug two-meter deep pit before exploding it to neutralize the whole. These operations will last several more hours, adding up to a total detonation time of up to eight hours. This setback prolongs the wait for the thousands of evacuated residents within a radius of 450 meters.
Alerted by the FR-Alert system, they had to leave their homes on foot and are waiting in five reception centers opened by the municipalities of Colombes, Asnières-sur-Seine, and Bois-Colombes. Volunteers from the civil protection and municipal employees are distributing coffee and biscuits while keeping the children entertained with comics, hoops, and Kapla construction games. A room equipped with camp beds has been set up separately for the rest of the 220 vulnerable people taken care of by the rescuers. The operations may seem long for a Sunday, but they are progressing well, as several residents interviewed by AFP testified that they felt very well informed.
Six RATP bus lines are cut off: Close to 800 agents secure the completely deserted area where police cars were completing final patrols on loudspeakers in the late morning behind the barriers. Within an extended perimeter of one kilometer banning any outdoor gathering, the evacuees were walking among the vehicles of the Red Cross, firefighters, gendarmes, and police.
The zone remains monitored and patrolled by aerial means to prevent opportunistic burglaries, while traffic on six RATP bus lines is disrupted. On Thursday, the prefect of Hauts-de-Seine, Alexandre Bruguière, described this operation as “risky” requiring a “high level of preparation.” Residents will have to wait until 7:00 p.m. at the latest to receive a final SMS authorizing them to return home.
