Children find mortar on Murlough beach

Children find mortar on Murlough beach

9 November 2016

ANOTHER live mortar has been discovered at Murlough beach near Dundrum.

The wartime munition was found in a sand dune by brothers Rafi and Sebastian Gorman who came across what their father described as a “rusty metal thing” which they picked up and showed off to adults who were with them two weekends ago.

Eight year-old Rafi and younger brother Sebastian (7), who are from East Belfast, were enjoying the fresh air and beauty of the picturesque area when they discovered the munition.

Their dad Chris explained the boys were out for an adventure sand dune walk with their grandparents when they came across the World War Two mortar.

“They picked up a rusty metal thing to show it off to their grandparents who quickly recognised that it could be a potential risk given the shape and size of the object. The army was alerted and carried out a controlled explosion to make the device safe,” said Chris.

“It was shocking to think that such a dangerous unexploded device was in the innocent hands of my kids. No damage done thankfully but absolutely hate the risk and exposure encountered to my kids.”

Chris added: “I would love it if somehow this educated other parents to warn their children to be more careful with what they pick up on beaches. I also think that the Co Down beaches on which this has occurred previously should have some signage up in the form of a warning of what to look out for.”

Badly eroded munitions, mostly mortar bombs, have been found in increasing numbers on several local beaches in recent years including Murlough, Tyrella, Minerstown and Ballyhornan.

Most of the munitions are believed to have come from a huge undersea arms dump in a deep trench in the middle of the Irish Sea called the Beaufort Dyke. At the end of WW2 hundreds of thousands of tonnes of munitions were dumped in the trench in a bid to dispose of enormous quantities of unused munitions.

Disposal of munitions in Beaufort Dyke began in June 1945 with the dumping of 242 tons of four inch mortar bombs — it is these bombs which have been most frequently found along the Lecale coastline in recent years where they have been washed ashore.

Last August, two smoke mortars were found on Murlough Beach within two weeks of each other. One of the devices was found by a child digging in the sand, with the other discovered in sand dunes.