Navy teams begin defusing unexploded WWII bomb
Bomb contains 5,200 pounds of explosives
SWINOUJSCIE, Poland (KYMA, KECY/NBC News) - On Monday, Navy divers began the delicate operation of defusing the largest World War Two bomb ever found in Poland.
The team evacuated some 750 local residents before starting the job.
Known as the "Earthquake Bomb, " Britain's Royal Air Force (RAF) dropped similar bombs across Nazi-occupied territories during the war. It weighs nearly 12,000 pounds, including 5,200 pounds of explosives.
The bomb lies at the bottom of a canal connecting the Baltic Sea with the Oder River. The RAF dropped it in 1945 in an attack on the German cruiser Lutzow.
Ordnance experts say divers must be extremely careful during the extraction process to avoid triggering any fuses and causing a huge explosion.
