More than 50,000 people were forced to evacuate the Italian city of Brindisi on Sunday as experts worked to defuse a World War II bomb, officials said.

The undetonated bomb, which contains 40 kgs of dynamite, was discovered last month by chance during the renovation of a movie theater, Italian outlet Corriere della Sera Daily reported.

The three-foot-wide bomb is believed to have been dropped by the British on the city in 1941.

Around 60% of the city’s residents — about 54,000 people — were ordered to evacuate from a “red zone,” which was encompassed areas within 5,305 feet of the site where the bomb was found, officials said.

The city’s airport, train station, two hospitals and a prison were all impacted by the operation, which officials anticipated to end around noon local time.

With Post wires