Frankfurt (CNN) Frankfurt authorities defused a massive World War II bomb on Sunday, days after it was discovered buried at a construction site.

Frankfurt police said in a tweet Sunday afternoon that the delicate process had been completed successfully.

Central Frankfurt looked like a ghost town after nearly 60,000 people were evacuated, forced to leave their homes ahead of the operation in the German city. The bomb was found during work Tuesday close to the Goethe University Frankfurt compound on Wismarer Street, police said in a statement.

#Weltkriegsbombe #Frankfurt



Das sind die Helden von Frankfurt und das besiegte Biest.



Tausend Dank an René Bennert & Dieter Schwetzler! pic.twitter.com/cuHbjfzZe6 — Polizei Frankfurt (@Polizei_Ffm) September 3, 2017

The device was a British bomb, specifically a 1.4-ton HC 4000 air mine, the statement said, and was put under police guard ahead of Sunday's operation to make it safe.

Police said the size of the bomb made extensive evacuation measures a necessary precaution. Residents were told to leave their homes by 8 a.m. local time (2 a.m. ET) before the operation to defuse the bomb began.

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