WW II bomb defused after mass evacuation in Frankfurt

German explosives experts defused a massive Second World War bomb in the financial capital of Frankfurt on Sunday after tens of thousands of people lefttheir homes.

The bomb was discovered on a building site last week and around 60,000 people were ordered to leave their residences in what was Germany's biggest evacuation since the war.

The work by bomb technicians started later than planned Sunday, as some people refused to leave the evacuation area despite fire chiefs warning that an uncontrolled explosion would be big enough to flatten a city block.

The device was found last week in the city's leafy Westend neighbourhood, home to many wealthy bankers. The evacuation area includes the central bank where $70 billion US in gold reserves are stored.

Hospitals, care homes evacuated

Police set up cordons around the evacuation area, which covered a radius of 1.5 kilometres.

Premature babies and intensive care patients had to be evacuated along with everyone else from two hospitals and rescue workers helped about 500 elderly people leave residences and care homes.

The bomb was dropped by Britain's Royal Air Force during the 1939-45 war, city officials said.

British and American warplanes pummelled the country with 1.5 million tonnes of bombs that killed 600,000 people. Officials estimate 15 per cent of the bombs failed to explode, some burrowing six metresdeep.

Live bombs, munitions common in Germany

More than 2,000 tonnes of live bombs and munitions are found each year in Germany, even under buildings.

In July, a kindergarten was evacuated after teachers discovered an unexploded Second World War bomb on a shelf among some toys.

Three police explosives experts in Goettingen were killed in 2010 while preparing to defuse a 450-kgbomb. Roads and transport systems, including parts of the underground, were to remain closed during the work and for at least two hours after the bomb is defused, to allow patients to be transported back to hospitals.

Air traffic from Frankfurt airport could also be affected and small private planes, helicopters and drones were banned from the evacuation zone.