Tens of thousands of people had to be evacuated in the Greek city of Thessaloniki as an unexploded World War II bomb was defused.

People living within a roughly 2km radius of the bomb site were ordered to leave as experts worked on the device.

Image: Bomb disposal experts at the site on Sunday

An estimated 75,000 were thought to have left their homes by the time the device was made safe on Sunday afternoon.

Experts had been concerned because its firing mechanism was found to be in "very good shape".

Trains were halted and church services cancelled during the evacuation, with some residents being transported by bus to schools, sports halls and other makeshift shelters.


Image: People are taken away from their homes on a bus

The bomb, which was dropped in an air raid in the 1940s, was found this month during work to expand storage tanks at a fuel station.

It was initially thought to contain 250kg of explosives, but officials have now confirmed the bomb was closer to 170kg and American-made.

Greek media has reported the bomb was dropped by a British plane in 1943, but this has not been confirmed.

Image: A police officer looks into the hole where workmen found the shell

Voula Patoulidou, deputy governor of Thessaloniki, which lies in the north of the country, said the discovery of a wartime bomb was unprecedented in the country.

Discoveries of unexploded WWII bombs are not uncommon in Britain and other countries.

Image: People were allowed within a few metres of the site before the evacuation got under way

Last May, experts deactivated a 250kg shell at a school playground in Bath. In November, a controlled explosion was carried out on a bomb that had been dislodged from the seabed in Portsmouth Harbour.

And in Germany, thousands of people had to leave their homes in a suburb of Berlin two months ago so an unexploded bomb could be defused.

People had to be evacuated on 23 January when a bomb from the conflict was found near a Hong Kong university.