“The bomb was found by fishermen on the bank of the Po river due to the decrease in water level caused by the drought,” said Colonel Marco Nassi. It was not easy to clear the bomb. About 3,000 people living nearby were evacuated for the neutralization operation, the military said. The airspace in the area was closed and navigation along this section of the waterway as well as traffic on a railway line and state road nearby was stopped. “At first, some of the residents said they wouldn’t move, but in the last few days, we think we’ve convinced everyone,” Borgo Virgilio mayor Francesco Aporti said, adding that if people had refused to go, businesses would have done stopped Bomb disposal engineers removed the fuse from the US-made device, which the military said contained 240 kilograms (530 lb) of explosives. The bomb squad, accompanied by police, then took the device to a quarry in the municipality of Medole, about 45 kilometers (30 miles) away, where it was destroyed. Italy declared a state of emergency last month for the areas around the Po, the country’s largest river. It accounts for about a third of Italy’s agricultural output and is experiencing its worst drought in 70 years.