Hundreds of people have been evacuated from Westfield shopping centre in west London after an unexploded second world war bomb was found at a nearby building site.
Commuters were told to avoid the area while an army disposal team was called in to examine the device. “WW2 bomb found near Westfield shopping centre W12,” police tweeted. “Road and rail traffic will be suspended for some time. Examination is ongoing.”
WW2 bomb found near Westfield Shopping Centre W12. Avoid area, Road and Rail traffic will be suspended for some time. Examination is ongoing
— HammFul MPS (@MPSHammFul) July 8, 2015
Police said the evacuations were precautionary. BBC staff at Wood Lane said they were initially told to remain inside their building.
“A WWII bomb has been found at Westfield, #whitecity and #woodlane + @westfieldlondon closed. Plus we’re not allowed outside,” the BBC science reporter Melissa Hogenboom tweeted. Forty minutes later she said the building was being evacuated.
Building evacuated now due to the unexploded wwII bomb #whitecity #wwII
— Melissa Hogenboom (@melissasuzanneh) July 8, 2015
The Metropolitan police said: “At 10.40am police were informed of the discovery of the large unexploded shell at a building site at Ariel Way, White City. The Westfield shopping centre and a non-residential building at the location have been evacuated as a safety precaution.”
It is the third discovery of a second world war bomb in London this year, following one in Bermondsey in March and another in Wembley in May.
Another panorama of #Westfield #london #evacuation for #WW2Bomb found nearby pic.twitter.com/sIfZ5A3yOw
— Chas Andersen (@chazamn) July 8, 2015
Westfield Shopping Centre evacuated over 'unexploded World War Two shell' #Westfield pic.twitter.com/Cxs4Iq4dcg
— Onit (@OnitCrew) July 8, 2015
Chaos as we're evacuated from #Westfield #WhiteCity after suspect package found. #WestfieldLondon @BBCBreaking pic.twitter.com/rjCx7yh5J8
— Liz Gordon ツ (@LizCGordon) July 8, 2015
Westfield in bush this morning 😂😂🙈 pic.twitter.com/nOHh3OECJh
— Naseem Safi (@naseem_safi) July 8, 2015
