Hacker News Reader

The straw was there to prevent shrapnel damage. Unfortunatel the straw ignited and started fires in a couple of surrounding buildings.

You can find a lot of pictures in german newspapers and magazines, i.e.: http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/bombenfund-experten-spreng...

Ah, I was thinking the straw/sand was more to dampen the shock-wave somehow. Interesting, I would have though that the shrapnel from a bomb that big would have been far more devastating even with sandbags; I guess they probably used more than I was picturing in my head. Fascinating stuff.

The did say that they found "Splitter" as far as 300m away, but that could apply to both shrapnel and just pieces of the casing.