British road junction back to normal after WWII bomb detonation

Britain's busiest road network, Spaghetti Junction in Birmingham, was running smoothly Wednesday after two days of chaos caused by a WWII unexploded bomb.

West Midlands Police released a video of the moment an army bomb disposal unit carefully carried out a detonation of the bomb. A camera fitted to a police operated drone filmed the massive explosion. A police spokeswoman said the British Army confirmed it was one of the biggest unexploded devices ever found in Britain.

The spokeswoman added that the road network in and around Birmingham, Britain's second biggest city after London, was now back to normal after all traffic controls were lifted Tuesday night.

The bomb, originally dropped during a bombing raid in the 1940s, was uncovered by workmen on a construction site. The discovery of the bomb led to major road closures affecting parts of the M6 motorway, the main expressway from the motorway into the center of Birmingham, and numerous local roads and streets.

Rail journeys were also disrupted and hundreds of families had to be evacuated from their homes as police set up a 500 meter safety cordon around the area.

A military team of experts buried the 250 kg bomb beneath a mountain of 250 tonnes of sand to help cushion the blast. Major Mike Luedicke, from the British Army's bomb disposal unit who co-ordinated the operation, said the team used sand to create an igloo shaped cover over the bomb to prevent shrapnel being scattered.

Local history professor Carl Chinn from the University of Birmingham said German bombers attacked the city, known as a major British munitions center, in 1940, killing about 2,000 people. Enditem