Old Bitola barracks yield more than 1,700 WWI grenades and mines
Pyrotechnicians recovered more than 1,700 hand grenades and tromblon mines near houses below Tumbe Kafe; clearance is ongoing.
Pyrotechnicians from the Directorate for Protection and Rescue and teams from the Ministry of Internal Affairs found more than 1,700 hand grenades and tromblon mines at the old Bitola barracks, the director said at the scene.
Work continues until all ordnance is removed
“We are removing a great danger to the houses located immediately below Tumbe Kafe in Bitola, a few metres in a straight line from the houses — in recent days we have taken out from the ground more than 1,700 hand grenades and tromblon mines from the First World War,” Stojanche Angelov, director of the Directorate for Protection and Rescue, said today.
The director added that excavations are ongoing and that crews expect to find additional grenades and other types of unexploded ordnance. The operation follows an earlier discovery at the same site in May, when teams recovered over 2,000 unexploded munitions from the First World War.
Angelov described the stockpile as substantial and visible in crates at the site. Authorities say clearance work will continue in the coming period until all dangerous items are removed from the location.
He also publicly thanked the Directorate’s pyrotechnician who is leading the operation on the ground.
Photo: press material from the event
