Artillery shell exploded by bomb squad
Bomb disposal teams have exploded an artillery shell that was found on Southsea beach
Police were called at 11.30am today by a member of the public who found the suspect device on the beach close to the Pyramids centre on Clarence Esplanade.
Officers who attended were unable to determine whether the object was an artillery shell or not, and could not confirm whether it had been washed up.
Bomb disposal units were called and arrived at 12.45pm. They took the shell out to sea and exploded it underwater at 1.25pm.
Police set up a cordon between the Pyramids Centre and South Parade Pier and closed the road behind the rock garden next to the Pyramids, which was lifted soon after 1.30pm.
Southern Diving Unit 2 from Horsea Island performed the controlled explosion at 1.25pm. Chief Diver Kevin Amaira co-ordinated the operation. He said: 'We have carried out a controlled explosion on a Second World War artillery shell found on the beach.
'We get most of our calls after heavy weather and you can never tell if it was washed up on the beach or not. This is a common occurence around the UK coastline but not on this beach.'
Sergeant Simon Vardy from Fratton Police Station called in the bomb disposal team at 11.59am after investigating the the device found by a walker at 11.30am.
He said: 'After we confirmed that it was an old shell we called bomb disposal out. Members of the public should always report suspicious findings and must never touch them.
'This was a very dangerous device and it was important that it was brought to our attention because it could have been found by kids.'
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Weather for Portsmouth
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 15 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 12 mph
Wind direction: West
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 25 C
Wind Speed: 22 mph
Wind direction: East
