Pistoia: Sunday 31 July 2016, starting from 11.20, the Italian Army bomb squad, under the 2 ° brigade brigade regiment of Piacenza, will carry out the operations of defusing and blasting an airplane bomb dating back to the second world war. The English-made bomb weighing 250 lbs (110 kg), still active and loaded with about 30 kg of TNT, was found on 14 last July along Via Pratese, a few meters from some houses of the number 83 , during some roadside excavation work.
The operations, directed and coordinated by the prefecture of Pistoia, will start as early as 07.30, with the evacuation of approximately 19.000 people residing within an area of 1.600 meters radius from the site of the discovery of the bomb, and will end around the 15.30. Arranged by the competent authorities, on Sunday 31 July, the transit is suspended along the following roads: the eastern ring road of Pistoia, SP47, SP5 Montalese, SP1 Variante Pratese and SP9 Montalbano (limited to the Via Bonellina section) and the ban on flying over airspace affected by remediation operations.
In various places in the city, collection points will be set up for evacuated citizens, including the Marini barracks, home of the 183 paratroop regiment, which will be able to accommodate up to 300 people. Moreover, the Army will contribute to reinforce the security device coordinated by the prefecture by providing structures and logistical means for the evacuation of personnel.
The Army bomb squads will articulate the bomb disposal intervention in two phases: the first, of removing the tail spool and the second of transporting it safely to an area suitable for the subsequent blasting, located near the former camp of flight, a couple of kilometers from the place where the bomb is currently located.
