Briefing in Prefecture in Salerno for the disposal of the explosive device dating back to World War II found in a construction site in Battipaglia in recent days. Yesterday morning, officials from the Prefecture, Italian Army bomb disposal experts, representatives from the police and civil protection forces, and the technical office managers of Battipaglia participated in the meeting. The area where the bomb was found, starting from Via Turco, will be evacuated within a radius of 352 meters: according to an initial estimate, the evacuation would involve 1200 people. The bomb was found a few meters from the railway line and the state road 18, so on the day of disposal, train circulation will be blocked and vehicles will not be able to travel on part of the state road. The disposal will be carried out by bomb disposal experts from the 21st Caserta Sappers Regiment, who conducted a survey in recent days. The disposal operations will take place on a Sunday, although the date has not yet been set. Possible delay until September. All homes and commercial activities within a radius of 352 meters from the explosive device will be evacuated. To disarm the bomb, a technique called a sarcophagus should be used. The bomb disposal operations will last between eight and twelve hours, but the duration of the evacuation and the measures to block the railway line and the roads near the bomb will only end when all activities are completed. The competent institutions will communicate the clearance to return to the restricted area. The range of action of the bomb, which is about one meter long and has a diameter of thirty-eight centimeters, is 1200 meters, and in any case, before starting the bomb disposal operations, the bomb disposal experts will have to build a containment structure necessary to reduce the impact of a possible explosion of the bomb. Even though the disposal of the bomb will take place on a Sunday, schools will have to be evacuated and there is a nursery school a few meters away from the explosive device. In the meantime, until the completion of the bomb disposal operations, law enforcement forces will have to ensure their presence in the area of Via Turco where the explosive device was found, which, in recent days, was covered by the bomb disposal experts with some bags of soil and sand to protect it from the weather. In 2019, to disarm another explosive device similar to the one recently found, it was necessary to evacuate 36,000 people.
