In what most be the saddest/strangest story of the day, three people have been killed and six injured trying to defuse a World War II bomb in central Germany.

The 500-kilogram (1,100 pound) bomb was found late Tuesday in the town of Goettingen. All the dead and injured were in the process of removing the explosive. Police are examining how the bomb went off while experts were preparing to defuse it. The men who died were specialists with vast experience in this field. “Suddenly there was a muffled blast,” Goettingen fire department official Frank Gloth told broadcaster ZDF, adding that the bomb (which exploded “without warning”) was discovered at a sports-stadium construction site.

World War II era bombs are still routinely unearthed on German construction sites all these years after the end of the war. In a bitter twist of fate, Goettingen police chief Robert Kruse told reporters that this team had found and deactivated a similar bomb last week at the same construction site.