THIS WEEK IN 1993: Massive wartime mine is destroyed

Fishermen had to call in bomb squad divers after they realised part of their catch was an unexploded three-quarter-ton German mine.

By The Newsroom

Published 26th Jun 2018, 06:00 BST

Dangerous item hauled in with the catch. PPP-180619-093956006

And they watched as plumes of water erupted into the air after the Second World War charge was blown up on the seabed.

Royal Navy frogmen from the Portsmouth area clearance diving unit scrambled to the Lymington trawler Coriolus in Freshwater Bay, off the Isle of Wight.

They looped ropes around the 9ft charge and lowered it over the side of the boat and back down to the seabed 15 metres below.

Once there, divers planted explosives on the mine and coastguards cleared the area as it was detonated.

Divers’ leader Lieutenant Ian Morton said the blast was classified as high order – ‘a big bang’.