Thousands evacuated from homes in Plymouth as bomb disposal team work to disarm explosive

TRENDING Stories Videos Your Say Plymouth City Council has confirmed a 400-metre cordon has remained in force around the affected area. The authority confirmed the live operation to detonate the device began at 8.15am.A council spokesman said: Royal Navy and Army unexploded ordnance specialists have now completed a rigorous and detailed assessment of the device.They have advised that it is not possible to safely remove it. The only safe option is to make the device safe in situ, which will involve a controlled detonation.This is planned to take place on Friday, once all safety measures are fully in place.The council confirmed specialists were crafting a sand mitigation structure in anticipation of the upcoming blast.The spokesman added: You will not be able to see the detonation and people are asked to stay well away from the area.A no-fly zone is also in place – drones are not permitted.The nearby Southway Youth and Community Centre has been opened up for displaced residents.LATEST FROM THE SOUTH WEST:More than 1,000 homes evacuated as WWII bomb set to be blown up in hoursMajor road opening within weeks after bridge 'needed to be demolished' impacting thousandsTeenagers confront travellers outside school as police called following major incidentSo far, it has support 50 residents, while 25 households have been given temporary accommodation as the controlled explosion is carried out.Local schools, including Oakwood Primary School, Little Acorns Pre-School and Beechwood Primary School, are closed today.The condition of the fuses in the 80-year-old bomb, which contains 130kg of explosives, made a safe removal impossible.Colonel Nick Handy, from 8 Engineer Brigade, said: Unfortunately we cannot get a definitive X-ray of the second fuse and therefore it is not safe to move that item.We are going to blow it in situ. When I say blow it in situ, we are going to try our hardest to deflagrate that item and burn it inside of a structure which will limit the damage to the local surroundings.I am pretty confident that the mitigation that we put up will limit most of the damage, but we will look to do that at some point on Friday.When that thing goes bang for want of a better expression, there will be damage, he added, assuring that they are seeking to limit damage so that nobody suffers.Col Handy said: The mitigation that we put in place should affect only small amounts of damage on the outer extremities of the area.Between 1941 and 1944, 1,174 civilians were killed over the course of upwards of 50 Luftwaffe air raids on the port city.MORE TO FOLLOW... Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter