ZURICH: (HRNW) A Swiss village where a World War Two-era munitions dump exploded 73 years ago will be evacuated for about a decade while the remaining bombs are carted off, part of a $1 billion plan approved by the government on Monday.
A series of explosions near Mitholz, deep in the Swiss Alps south of Bern, began just before midnight on Dec. 19, 1947 at an adjacent Swiss military weapons dump.
Nine people died as the shockwaves shook the valley and debris rained down on homes, destroying the town centre and its railway station.
While Mitholz was quickly rebuilt, some 3,500 tonnes of aerial bombs, mines and hand grenades remained inside the mountainside military cache.
The aging stockpile has since been declared by munitions experts as unstable, with the potential to cause another tragedy.
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