Cologne-Ehrenfeld: Blingänger deactivated – riot at the barrier

Ehrenfeld –

During a scouting job in Cologne-Ehrenfeld on Monday morning, a blind man from World War II was found. It was an English ten hundred peso (500 kilogram) bomb with a rear impact fuse. It was deactivated Tuesday night after some 13,000 residents were evacuated. Read here how the evacuation went.

The evacuation zone:

Here you can download the map in pdf to see in detail which area will be evacuated:

World War Bomb Defused

1.10 am: The World War II bomb in Cologne-Ehrenfeld was defused by the munitions disposal service of the district government. The traffic closures are now gradually being lifted again. Residents can return to their houses and apartments. People who cannot walk independently are driven by ambulances. The security and traffic service was deployed with 150 people. The support was provided by 90 people from the emergency services, 21 from the professional fire brigade and 12 policemen.

Authorization to deactivate granted

0.50 am.: The regulatory office of the city of Cologne has given authorization to the explosive ordnance disposal service to defuse the WWII bomb in Ehrenfeld at 0.44 am

Second ring tour completed

0.15 am.: The second ring of the doorbell at Ehrenfeld is now complete. All patient transfers have been made, 443 people have visited the contact point. The airspace is now blocked up to 1000 meters above and 500 meters around the danger area. Authorization is then given to defuse the world war bomb.

Rioters and objectors

10:56 pm: At this time, a person on Geisselstrasse refuses to leave his apartment. The law enforcement office and the police try to get the person to leave. Another person rioted against one of the barriers and was detained by the police. An elderly couple got on one of the shuttle buses, but they don’t want to get out. The pair are now seated (crown compatible with a distance and a face mask) on the bus, continuing to travel between the restricted area and the point of contact.

Meanwhile, the tour of the second ring continues. The time of deactivation has not yet been determined. So far, 324 people have come to the contact point.

The first run of the doorbell is over

9:02 pm: The first visit to the doorbell is over. Around 300 people have so far visited the contact point at the Rheinenergie-Station. 180 residents were taken out of the evacuation zone by ambulance. It is not yet clear whether authorization to defuse the bomb will be given before midnight or later.

More people infected with corona than expected beforehand

6:52 pm: The Cologne City Public Order Office has only completed 70 percent of the first doorbell visit. One reason for this is that more people who are infected with the corona virus and are quarantined at home are in the danger area, according to a spokesperson. The health department apparently did not provide the law enforcement office with the most recent list.

Over the course of the night, all corona patients are taken individually by ambulance to the designated area at the Rhein-Energie-Stadion. After each trip, the cart must first be disinfected before another patient can be transported with it.

A total of nearly 160 law enforcement employees are currently on duty. These are all those who were regularly assigned to the early or late shift today. The reason the evacuation is still taking so long is, in addition to the corona patients, also the mass of residents in the danger zone, according to a law enforcement spokesman. Employees must check around 1500 addresses.

Do not miss the barrier

5:54 pm: “We’ve never experienced that, and you were already a year old,” Luzie S. tells her son, who is curiously watching the evacuation at Weinbergstrasse from the belt. Luzie discovered that an old WWII bomb had been discovered in her neighborhood around 1pm by a group of WhatsApp neighbors. She was able to pack a few more things, but her husband Philipp was no longer allowed to go through the barrier. According to him, who can still go home is a bit arbitrary. “In any case, you can’t change your clothes anymore,” he says. The little family now wants to go for a walk with a friend and have a coffee. Due to the current situation in the crown, Luzie hopes that the blast will not last until the night. “In a pinch, we have an assignment we can stay on,” he says and laughs.

65 people in corona-related quarantine

5:01 pm: According to the Cologne health department, 65 people are under corona-related quarantine in the evacuation area. They are to be taken to a separate area in the Rhein-Energie-Stadion shortly before being disarmed.

According to the city, it has not yet been determined how many ambulances will have to be carried in total. The law enforcement office has yet to complete the first visit to the doorbell.

These streets will be closed

4:58 pm: The city of Cologne has commissioned a service provider to install roadblocks at the following locations:

• Venloer Strasse between Leyendecker Strasse and Innere Kanalstrasse
• Melaten Belt / Ehrenfeld Belt between Aachener Straße and Subbelrather Straße
• Weinsbergstrasse between Oskar-Jäger-Strasse and Innere Kanalstrasse
• Vogelsanger Strasse between Oskar-Jäger-Strasse and Innere Kanalstrasse

37-year-olds evacuated twice in a week

4:51 pm: “Two evacuations in a week; my neighbors said I should play the lottery,” says Danuta Filus. Shortly after four, the 37-year-old pushes a stroller full of suitcases away from the barrier on Weinbergstrasse. Last week she was hit by the bomb found at the Lindenthal gynecological clinic. On Monday she learned that she would be evacuated again. At about a quarter past three, the law enforcement office rang the bell. “I had almost half an hour to pack my things, it was very nice,” he says. She meets her husband and two-year-old daughter at the nearest gas station. The family spends the night with Filus’s sister in Hürth; after all, the couple’s daughter has to go to bed early. “You don’t know how long it will take,” says Filus.

Contact point for evacuees

3:32 pm: The explosive device was found on Fröbelstrasse, between the Weinsbergstrasse / Gürtel train station and Neptunbad, at number 20. The area is densely populated, around 13,000 people are affected by the evacuation, according to the city. The Melaten, Neptunbad and Kaufland cemetery in Barthonia-Forum must also be cleaned up.

The danger zone must be cordoned off and evacuated for this. First, the danger zone was defined with a radius of 500 meters. The final evacuation area is still being determined. The munitions disposal service and the public order office of the city of Cologne are on site. The latter began with the first call to the doorbell, in which employees had to call around 1,500 addresses.

There is a contact point for people affected by the evacuation in the commercial box of the Rhein-Energie-Stadion. It can be reached via Aachener Straße 999. You can also KVB shuttle buses can be used, which stop at three different locations:

• Weinsbergstrasse 160 (near the Audi center)
• Venloer Strasse at the corner of Hansemannstrasse
• Venloer Strasse and Thebäerstrasse

“The point of contact meets Corona,” says Tim Walther, a clerk in the administrative department. That means: There is an entry and exit system, sufficient disinfectant, free space between the tables and a mask is required.

Shortcomings for rail and bus traffic in Cologne

2:55 pm: Barricades are currently being installed in the area. The Northbound Melatengürtel between Aachener Straße and Weinsbergstraße is now closed. Traffic between Oskar-Jäger-Strasse and Innere Kanal Strasse has already collapsed around the barrier points in Ehrenfeld. On the other hand, Venloer Straße is completely car-free between Ehrenfeldgürtel and Innerer Kanalstraße. Most of the stores are already closed. Drivers are asked to avoid the danger zone to a great extent.

Tram lines 3 and 4, which do not stop at KVB stops Venloer Straße / Gürtel and Körnerstraße, as well as line 13, which does not stop at stops Venloer Straße / Gürtel and Weinsbergstraße / Gürtel, are also affected by closing.

Bus routes 141, 142 and 143 also pass through the danger zone without stopping. The airspace, on the other hand, will be closed in the short term during the deactivation period.

Special rules due to current corona pandemic

1:38 pm: In the face of the corona pandemic, evacuation is subject to certain rules: if there are people in the evacuation area who are in quarantine at home, they should in no case go to the resident collection points to avoid contagion by the coronavirus . At the end of the evacuation, you will be transferred by ambulance to the Rhein-Energie-Stadion to be accommodated in a protected area. However, it is not yet clear how many infected people will be affected by the evacuation, says a spokesman for the public order office. (cm / kle / ken / mab / ts / red)