Evacuation of Banja Luka residents due to bomb in Vrbas

A bomb weighing 200 kilograms and measuring more than 140 centimeters, found near the City Bridge in Banja Luka, will be extracted only next week, reports the Patria news agency.

The safety of citizens will be a priority, so authorities are considering the possibility of evacuating residents living on the right bank of the river on the day of extraction.

As reported by “Euro Blic”, traffic across the bridge will most likely be suspended then, and the plan is for police and firefighters to secure the area.

“We are conducting additional measurements to determine the exact model. Site preparation is necessary because the bomb extraction is complicated, which is why we will also have a drill with a model. Additionally, coordination with the Bočac hydroelectric plant is needed, as the water level needs to be low,” explained Miroslav Mišković from the Diving Club “BUK”.

He said that the bomb was probably covered by a large layer of stones, and due to the change in the riverbed after floods and the currently lower water level, it became visible.

“We received a notification about the bomb and forwarded the request, marked as ‘urgent’, to the competent team at the Republika Srpska Civil Protection Administration. They asked our divers to go to the site and submit all data to the competent team, which was done,” explained Željko Katić, Head of the Department for Civil Protection Affairs and Professional Territorial Firefighting Units, adding that the bomb from the Vrbas should be extracted between August 20 and 22.

We remind you that in the middle of last month, divers from the Diving Club “Buk” also pulled an unexploded mortar shell from the Vrbas River near the City Bridge, which also dates back to World War II.