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Helicopters to bomb Swedish mosquitoes

The mounting mosquito problems in the Dalälven region, in central Sweden, have resulted in a governmental plan to use helicopters to bomb the blood-thirsty insects to death before the summer season commences.

Helicopters to bomb Swedish mosquitoes

There has been a general angry buzz in the Dalälven area among local residents, who have complained that the summers are intolerable when shared with so many hungry mosquitoes.

The government decided to act on the problem, and announced on Wednesday that they would eradicate the mosqitoes by bombing the whole municipality with pesticide.

“People fare very badly when there are so many mosquitoes,” said the environmental minister Lena Ek to the Aftonbladet newspaper.

Helicopters will be used to deploy pesticide bombs to eradicate the unsuspecting mosquito population.

The target of the 9,000 hectare area will be the insects’ larvae, and the eradication of this is hoped to prevent further itchy situations.

In Sweden, a mosquito population is considered to be dire when over 5,000 are caught in one night trap, as was the case in the Dalälven region.

Meanwhile, there are concerns that the insects may build up a resistance to the pesticides and come back in even stronger numbers.

“But one must be careful and keep checking that we don’t start seeing a resistance to the pesticides. There are governmental decisions in place that we will be testing against this,” Ek told the paper.

Ek was keen to point out that that she didn’t want residents to feel the sting any longer, noting that previous summers were saved by similar procedures.

“It’s clear that the people who live there are worried and we’re trying to do this as well as we possibly can for them,” she told the paper.

The pesticide used will be Vectobac G, which is biodegradable, and will be used in the municipalities of Heby, Tierps, Älvkarleby, Sala, Avesta, Gävle and Sandviken.

The municipalities can choose at their own discretion when to begin the bombing.

The Local/og

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WWII bomb found in Frankfurt safely detonated after mass evacuation

A massive World War II bomb found in Germany's financial capital Frankfurt was safely detonated in the early hours of Thursday, the city's fire service said, allowing tens of thousands of evacuated residents to return to their homes.

WWII bomb found in Frankfurt safely detonated after mass evacuation
Experts stand on mountains of sand, which were put in place to soften the force of the explosion of the WWII bomb in Frankfurt's Nordend. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Frank Rumpenhorst

The 500-kilogram unexploded bomb was unearthed during construction work on Wednesday in the densely populated Nordend area of the city, a location firefighters said made it a “particular challenge” to remove.

The Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper reported the ordnance had been discovered right next to a children’s playground at a depth of about two metres (6.5 feet).

READ ALSO: What you need to know about WWII bomb disposals in Germany

Its report said the controlled blast, which happened just after midnight, “sounded like thunder rumbling” and left a hole three metres deep and ten metres wide.

Firefighters said that they had covered the bomb with 40 truckloads of sand before detonating it, in order to minimise damage to the surrounding buildings.

Around 25,000 people had been asked to evacuate the area, including the occupants of a nearby community hospital’s neonatal ward.

Among residents who took shelter at a skating rink was 29-year-old Tobias, carrying his pet cat in a cage.

He said he had heard the news over a police loudspeaker and been ordered to leave his home immediately, causing a “bit of stress”.

Barbara, 77, told AFP the news was “a bit of a shock, we don’t expect that”.

However, building works in Germany regularly unearth unexploded World War II ordnance, 76 years after the conflict’s end.

Seven bombs were defused in 2020 on land near Berlin where Tesla plans to build its first factory in Europe for electric cars.  

READ ALSO: WWII bomb in Frankfurt triggers 30m high water fountain

Other bombs were also discovered last year in Frankfurt, Cologne, and Dortmund.

In Frankfurt, the discovery of a 1.4-tonne bomb in 2017 led to the removal of 65,000 people, the biggest such evacuation in Europe since 1945.

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