The mine clearance operation of a Second World War bomb discovered in the Fort Nieulay district in Calais (Pas-de-Calais) is scheduled for Monday May 20, 2024, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
It is a great classic on the coasts of the Channel and the North Sea, as soon as construction sites are undertaken. As in Brest at the end of last April or in Boulogne-sur-Mer in October 2019, a bomb dating from the Second World War was discovered in the heart of the Fort Nieulay district, in Calais.
The Pas-de-Calais prefecture indicates that the mine clearance operation will take place on the morning of Monday May 20, 2024, requiring the evacuation of 800 people. The streets of the neighborhood will be closed to traffic, travel prohibited within a defined perimeter. The delicate operation will be carried out by specialized civil security services. Here’s what you need to know about this extraordinary mine clearance.
The discovery dates back to last April. Workers from the Eurovia company, in the middle of a sanitation and road construction project on rue de Casablanca in the Fort Nieulay district of Calais, came face to face with… a bomb.
According to the town’s municipal magazine, this XXL British aviation bomb dating from the Second World War weighs 500 kilos. For comparison, a British aerial bomb containing 88 kilos of explosives had already been defused in Calais in March 2022, on the Alcatel site.
To prevent it from exploding unexpectedly, a defusing operation will be carried out on Monday May 20, 2024 by civil security deminers. The operation will begin at 8 a.m. and should end around 1 p.m. No traffic, road or pedestrian, will be tolerated in the Fort Nieulay district.
No traffic, road or pedestrian, will be permitted in these areas. All roads in the Fort Nieulay district will be closed to traffic, in order to limit movement throughout the entire district as much as possible during operations.
Extract from the press release from the Pas-de-Calais prefecture
The bomb having been discovered in the heart of a residential area, the Pas-de-Calais prefecture announced the establishment of an “exclusion zone”. Understand that it will be strictly forbidden to enter a perimeter of 270 meters around the bomb. Thus, 796 people will be evacuated. Shuttles will be set up to take local residents who wish to do so to the Gambetta forum, a room provided by the municipality.
A second zone will also be established within a perimeter of 400 meters around the bomb. Thus, 635 additional Calais residents will have to remain confined for the duration of the operation, shutters closed and windows open.
The Calais town hall and the Calais sub-prefect are organizing an information meeting for residents of the Fort Nieulay district, next Thursday May 16 at 6:30 p.m. in the Mandela room.
