80 years underground

314 bombs defused in the old Athens airport

Ellinikon Airport was Athens' international airport for 63 years - here in an archive photo from the 1960s.(Bild: Wikipedia/Mike Loader (CC BY-SA 4.0) )

Explosive remnants from the Second World War have been found under the old airport in Athens. A total of 314 bombs left there by the German Luftwaffe were defused. The munitions depot was located at a depth of just two meters - over the decades, kindergartens were also located above it. Even the Olympic Games were held above the bombs. 

"It is puzzling how an entire airport and numerous municipal and civil aviation facilities could be operated in such a minefield," said the mayor of the Elliniko-Argyroupoli region, Giannis Konstantatos, expressing his relief that there were no explosions or accidents. 

"We are only alive by chance," Konstantatos continued. Above and next to the camp were airport facilities for eight decades and, after its closure, schools, kindergartens and, during the Athens Olympics in 2004, sports facilities.

"The bombs lay next to our houses for 80 years"
According to the mayor, the German Luftwaffe had stored the bombs in the old airport on the coast of Athens during the occupation of Greece (1941-1944) and left them behind when they hastily left south-eastern Europe due to the advance of the Red Army in the Balkans. "The bombs lay next to our houses for 80 years," he told the newspaper "Kathimerini".

Here you can see a plan of what is planned for the old airport site:

A huge new district is currently being built on the approximately 620-hectare airport site on the coast of Athens. New hotels and numerous luxury residential complexes are being built. The work is being hampered by the danger of more bombs underground, Greek media reported.