Yahoo News Builders shocked to unearth unexploded WWII bomb when digging up garden
Two builders were astounded to find a World War Two bomb when they were working in the garden of a house in Solihull, West Midlands.
Labourers Christopher Jenkins and Robert Hodgson, both 30, alerted the emergency services who arrived at the scene in Shirley on Tuesday, April 9 with a bomb disposal unit.
Mr Jenkins said: “We were just digging through the property when we came across what we thought was just an old pipe.
“When we found it, we dug around it, we were still unsure as to what it was.
“But to my amazement, there we had it – it was a World War Two bomb.
“We had scraped it with a shovel wondering what it was, it’s bloody lucky it didn’t go off.
“We both ran off straight away – there was nothing about bombs in our training.
“We turned the digger off and called the emergency services, who arrived in about five minutes and evacuated the road.
“It all happened at once, and so fast.
“The neighbours were gobsmacked, they couldn’t believe it, it was just so unexpected.
“It’s madness, not something you see every day – definitely a story for the kids.”
Police cordoned off the road following the find, before evacuating residents from the surrounding area.
West Midlands Police confirmed explosives experts moved the shell to a safe place so it could be defused.
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A spokesman for West Midlands Police said: “Officers cordoned off an area in Shirley, Solihull, yesterday [TUES] after an unexploded device was discovered in a garden.
“Some nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution and roads were closed in the surrounding area.
“An explosive disposal team safely removed the unexploded device.
“Roads then reopened and residents were able to return to their homes.”
