Greek authorities on Saturday began evacuating some 70,000 people in the city of Thessaloniki ahead of an operation to defuse a bomb from World War II.
The bomb, containing nearly 250 kilograms (550 pounds) of explosives, was unearthed in the northern city during road works last week and is due to be on Sunday.
More than 300 disabled people and bedbound patients were set to be the first evacuated on Saturday using 20 ambulances, authorities from Greece’s second city said.
The full evacuation of all residents within a 1.9-kilometre (1.1-mile) radius of the
bomb site, affecting three working-class
neighbourhoods around west of the city-centre, is due to be completed before 0800 (local time) on Sunday.
Evacuation is “obligatory”, regional security chief Apostolos Tzitzikostas told reporters on Friday.