BERLIN, June 1 (Xinhua) -- Three people were killed and several wounded by an explosion as experts prepared to defuse a World War II bomb on Tuesday evening in the German city of Goettingen, German media reported.
The explosion occurred at about 9:30 p.m. local time as bomb disposal experts were preparing to defuse a World War II bomb in the university town in Lower Saxony, German news agency DPA reported.
The online edition of the German mass-circulation newspaper Bild quoted a local firefighter spokesman as saying that the bomb exploded as experts started the preparatory work to defuse the bomb with acid fuse. The actual defusing was scheduled for 10:30 p. m. local time.
"A total of 13 employees of the bomb disposal team have participated in the operation. We are all shocked. The defusing of a similar bomb a few days ago went smoothly," the spokesman said.
The three dead are believed to members of the bomb disposal team.
A total of 7,200 people are supposed to be evacuated from a radius of one kilometer around the place where the bomb were found.
