London City Airport — which serves some 4.5m passengers each year — has been forced to close today after an unexploded World War Two bomb was found in the River Thames.

The bomb was found at George V Dock during work at London City Airport on Sunday morning and the airport was closed after talks between the Royal Navy and the Metropolitan Police.

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All flights in and out of the airport today have been cancelled, leaving 16,000 passengers grounded.

Chief executive Robert Sinclair said:

I urge any passengers due to fly today not to come to the airport and to contact their airline for further information. All flights in and out of London City on Monday are cancelled and an exclusion zone is in place in the immediate area.

I recognise this is causing inconvenience for our passengers, and in particular some of our local residents. The airport is cooperating fully with the Met Police and Royal Navy and working hard to safely remove the device and resolve the situation as quickly as possible.

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The airport was given the go-ahead for a £400m expansion by UK law makers in July 2016. It will mean 2m more passengers per year will be able to use the airport from 2025, with 30,000 additional flights annually.

Meanwhile, properties within the police exclusion zone were evacuated and residents were given emergency accommodation overnight.

A Met Police statement said:

Overnight, officers have been helping to evacuate properties within the exclusion zone and police are working with the local authority to provide residents with temporary emergency accommodation and the appropriate support.

How London City Airport compares to the UK’s other hubs

[visualizer id=”146359″] Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority