Walkers warned after WW2 bomb is found

Walkers warned after WW2 bomb is found

6 November 2013

WALKERS are being advised to be careful if they find unusual objects washed up on the district’s beaches.

The warning from the Coastguard comes after walkers discovered a World War Two mortar bomb on Murlough beach on Sunday afternoon.

Dawn Mitchell was walking her dogs with her husband when they discovered what they initially thought was a dead fish in a pool left behind by the falling tide.

When Mrs. Mitchell’s husband examined it more closely, pushing sand away from it with a stick, they realised it looked very like a bomb.

Mrs. Mitchell contacted the Coastguard, sending them a photograph, and it was confirmed the suspicious object was a mortar bomb.

It is believed the high explosive bomb came from Beaufort’s Dyke, a 200 metre trench in the Irish Sea were tens of thousands of tonnes of ordnance was dumped after the Second World War.

It is now believed the containers in which the ordnance was dumped are beginning to decay, releasing various dangerous objects such as the mortar found on Sunday.

Items have been washing ashore on the east coast of Northern Ireland for several years, mainly phosphorous blocks used to light the boilers of vessels. These are particularly dangerous as phosphorous will self combust when it dries out.

After the find on Sunday afternoon the beach was closed by members of the South Down Coastguard team and PSNI, who kept a guard on the discovery until the arrival of an army bomb disposal team at 4am on Monday morning.

The team confirmed the device was a WW2 high explosive mortar which was fused and capable of detonating. The bomb was blown up in a controlled explosion which was heard throughout Newcastle.

Speaking afterwards South Down Coastguard deputy station officer, Libby Campbell, advised members of the public to be extremely wary of approaching anything unusual or suspicious.

“Such finds have been taking place on eastern beaches for several years,” she said. “This device looked exactly like a mortar bomb and was easily identified but it is worth pointing out that others have looked nothing like a traditional bomb yet are still very dangerous.

“We would advise any who comes across anything unusual, or something they are wary of, not to pick it up or get too close but to contact the Coastguard and let us take a look at it,” she said.