Italian city evacuates 54,000 people to defuse World War Two bomb

Italy [stock]

Silvia Aloisi

Around 54,000 people were evacuated from the southern Italian city of Brindisi on Sunday as experts worked to defuse a World War Two bomb, authorities said.

Corriere della Sera daily said the operation was the biggest peacetime evacuation in Italy, with more than 60% of the city's residents forced to vacate a "red zone" in a radius of 1,617 metres from where the bomb was found.