Challenging weekend for the bomb squads of the Italian Army, engaged in defusing and blasting operations of war devices dating back to the 2nd World War.
In Segrate (MI), a team of the 10th Engineer Regiment of Cremona has successfully completed the defusing and blasting operations of an aircraft bomb dating back to the 2nd World War. The bomb, weighing 500 pounds and of English manufacture, type MC Mod. MK, II containing 107 kg of high potential explosives, was found on 29 October during the expansion works of the freight yard in the municipality of Segrate ( ME).
In the days following the discovery of the bomb, the sappers of the “Ariete” brigade built a temporary protection structure (expansion chamber) which made it possible to significantly reduce the inconvenience to citizens.
The operations to secure the bomb were completed as scheduled, thanks to the perfect synergy of all the institutional subjects involved, coordinated by the prefecture of Milan. In order to ensure an adequate safety framework, during the removal of the ignition systems, carried out from 09.00 to 11.00, the traffic of the Milan-Bergamo-Brescia railway line and the airspace of the airport were prohibited of Linate. Subsequently, the bomb squad, escorted by the Police Forces, proceeded to transfer the bomb to a state-owned land in the municipality of Segrate, where it was destroyed. The reclamation operations ended at 15.00 pm.
In San Clemente (RN), the bomb squads of the railway engineering regiment of Castel Maggiore (BO), have completed the defusing operations of an aircraft bomb weighing about 500 pounds (equal to about 227 kg) of English manufacture, dating back to to the second World War, which was found in poor conservation conditions and still active.
The delicate reclamation operations, coordinated by the prefecture of Rimini and the command Northern operational forces of Padua, began following the completion of the evacuation procedures, which involved about 1000 residents inside the evacuation area.
To guarantee the maximum safety framework, the engineers of the Engineering Department have carried out, in recent days, works to mitigate the effects of an accidental explosion in the defusing phase, while today the device was neutralized by removing the ignition systems and its blasting in an area specifically identified and prepared in order to protect public safety.
During the operations to remove the ignition systems, some municipal and provincial roads adjacent to the area where the bomb was found were interrupted to traffic.
The Italian Army, thanks to the professional versatility of its departments, is able to intervene in cases of need for the safety and security of citizens, in the disposal of bombs, as in cases of public disasters.
