WWII bomb found near St. Petersburg

A WWII bomb lying at a depth of four meters in Kronstadt harbor was raised by rescue workers the other day. (Kronstadt is St. Petersburg's former naval citadel on Kotlin island in the Gulf of Finland 27 km west of the Neva river's mouth). Russia became involved in World War II on June 22, 1941, that is, when Nazi Germany, which had conquered most of Europe since September 1939, attacked the Soviet Union.

Talking to RIA Novosti, people at the press center of St. Petersburg's main civil-defense and emergency situations department noted that the bomb had been found the other day at a four-meter depth near a pier of Kronstadt's middle harbor in the course of dredging operations.

Salvage operations were quite difficult because the bomb had to be raised with the help of ropes, the press center's officials added.

Specialists from the Russian Emergencies Ministry's rescue center took part in the work.

It took more than four hours to raise the bomb, which was eventually transported to a special range for subsequent destruction by 11.05 p.m. Moscow time.

Rescue workers also had to remove a hand-grenade and a 122-mm artillery shell dating back to the WWII period on Zheleznodorozhnaya street in the city's Pushkinsky district, press-center people said in conclusion.