An unexploded World War II bomb yesterday caused a few jitters among students and staff at the Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology, who had to be evacuated during a “delicate” operation to make it safe.
The 500kg bomb was unearthed at about 10.45 a.m. by a workman during excavation work for the new campus. It lay just three metres below the football ground adjacent to the Paola college and about 50 metres from the nearest building. It had been there for nearly 70 years.
The area was cordoned off as the army’s Explosives Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit got to work.
A robot was initially deployed to ensure it was safe and then Sergeant Dario Borg, with 24 years of experience under his belt, plucked up the courage to take a better look at the bomb and its fuse box.
Armed with a reference manual that looked as old as the bomb itself, he concluded it was a German semi-armour piercing bomb with a 1.4-inch shell and carrying 250kg of explosive material. Such bombs were designed to penetrate and then explode.
At the time, however, the Germans were still experimenting with electronic fuses so many did not work well, he explained later.
After the bomb was rendered safe, it was placed onto a bed of sand in an army truck and escorted by military vehicles and traffic police to the EOD base at Manoel Island. It will eventually be dumped at sea.
The whole operation was described as “very delicate” and took around four hours to complete.
The Mcast campus lies in an area that was hit by several bombs during World War II, which are unearthed from time to time close to the harbour and the airport.