Italy defers bomb found on Po river

Military experts defused and carried out a controlled explosion of the 450 kilogram 1,000 pound bomb discovered on July 25 near the northern village of Borgo Virgilio, close to the city of Mantua.

The bomb was found by fishermen on the bank of the Po due to a decrease in water levels caused by drought, Colonel Marco Nasi said.

It was no easy task to clear the bomb.

The army said about 3,000 people living nearby were evacuated for the disposal operation. The area's airspace was shut down, and navigation along that stretch of the waterway as well as traffic on a railway line and state road close by were stopped.

Italian parmesan producers fear for future amid the drought At first, some of the inhabitants said they would not move but in the last few days we think we have persuaded everyone, said Francesco Aporti, Borgo Virgilio's mayor, Francesco Aporti, who said if people refused to go, operations would have been stopped. Bomb disposal engineers removed the fuse from the US-manufactured device, which contained 240 kilograms 530 pounds of explosive. The bomb squad, escorted by police, then transferred the device to a quarry in Medole municipality, about 45 kilometers 30 miles away, where it was destroyed. Italy declared a state of emergency last month for areas surrounding the Po, which is the country's longest river. It accounts for about a third of Italy's agricultural production and is suffering from its worst drought for 70 years.