Builders 'lucky to be alive' after finding two bombs in just one week digging up road

A pair of who discovered two unexploded bombs in the space of a week while they dug up a road in have recalled the "scary" moment, saying they're "lucky to be alive."

The chilling discovery sparked an office block holding around 500 people to evacuate the building, while others learned they were stood only less than a metre away from the explosives. were first called to North Atlantic Avenue in Liverpool at around 11.45am today, Thursday, October 24.

They returned just days later after a report of an unexploded ordnance being found for the second time. were called to the same area on Tuesday following the discovery of another device, which saw the road blocked as a cordon was placed around the area.

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One worker, who found the first bomb on Tuesday, said: "We're construction workers on the site, we've been groundsmen for years and never seen anything like this. We were working, digging down and we got to a sandy bit and it felt really soft, then as we were digging down we saw a bit of metal. We thought 'ah it's a bomb' and ran to tell the gaffers."

He added: "The same thing happened today. The lads were working only about a metre deep and it popped out of the ground. They're saying they are British bombs, we had a meeting with a guy from the army and he said it was the bombs used for when the aircrafts were coming over and they'd try and shoot them down, but they're the ones that haven't exploded and come back down into the ground."

The builder continued: "It was scary, you just don't really believe it's a bomb, like I say we've been groundworkers for years and never seen anything like it. Especially two in a same week. They were within ten metres of each other, it's a bit worrying when you don't know what you're digging into. They stopped us using the machines, the three of us would have been dead if it had gone off when we hit it with the machinery."

The bomb was safely transported to Ainsdale beach where it was detonated by the EOD Unit, reports. Eye on Southport (EoS) caught the moment police put in a cordon off the beach, with footage showing the unexploded WW2 bomb being detonated and disposed of. The worker said: "We watched the explosion on the news, it was quite a bang. The one they got here on Tuesday they set it off at the beach."

Another construction worker, who found the bomb on Thursday morning, said he is "lucky to be alive." He added: "We were digging out for a bit of drainage, the guy was digging, he lifted it up and dropped it into the dumper and as he's dropped it I've seen it come out of the bucket, I've looked at him and he's looked at me and went 'was that a bomb,' and I said 'oh s*** that's a bomb.'

"We're lucky to be alive, we were only a metre away from it, if it had exploded we would have been blown to smithereens."