At least 600 World War II artillery shells found under a road in Moscow

Hundreds of WWII artillery shells found in Moscow

MOSCOW — Dozens of people were evacuated from their homes in Russia’s capital Wednesday after maintenance workers uncovered hundreds of rusty World War II-era artillery shells beneath a road.

Sappers removed 916 field artillery shells of various caliber after workers expanding a road in west Moscow stumbled upon the cache. Residents of two nearby buildings were evacuated immediately, and the road was closed to traffic.

At least 28 of the shells were armed, said Igor Chernego, the chief of the district office of the Emergency Situations Ministry for northwestern Moscow. But he downplayed the danger they posed.

The shells were loaded into trucks for safe disposal, according to Maj. Sergei Novikov of the sappers unit.

Such finds are relatively common in Russia, which experienced some of World War II’s fiercest battles.

Some residents at the scene claimed that the cache — which featured 76mm and 152mm shells — was part of a wider network of ordnance depots located in the area since the 1930s.

Zufiar Nurimanov, 72, who has been living in the area for nearly 40 years, said that residents routinely found shells in the ground and some boys were killed while playing with them during Soviet times.

“Many children played with the ammunition, like throwing shells into the fire, and were killed,” he said. Other residents backed up Nurimanov’s claim.

Lt. Col. Sergei Vlasov, a Moscow military spokesman, said the shells would be destroyed at a Moscow airfield later Wednesday.