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Published:
April 12, 2008
Royal
Navy team prepare for new attempt to detonate Stert bomb
Burnham-On-Sea's
rescue hovercraft flew members of the Royal Navy bomb disposal
team out to the site of a huge World War II bomb on Stert Island
early on Saturday morning (April 12th) as plans for a mid-day
detonation were put into place.
 Technical
problems led to the planned detonation of the 700kg bomb on Friday
evening being postponed.
The
device remained in situ overnight and was examined by the Royal
Navy at first light on Saturday.
The
Spirit Of Lelaina hovercraft, operated by Burnham charity BARB,
took two members of the Royal Navy team out to the GC Sea Mine
at 5am as they made final preparations for the detonation, which
is now scheduled for around mid-day.
On
Friday evening, large crowds lined the Esplanade at Burnham to
watch the detonation - but
rough sea conditions along the south western side of Stert Island
caused a fuse not to operate correctly and the operation was called
off at 8.30pm.
 Burnham
RNLI lifeboats assisted with the work on Friday (April 11th),
taking personnel from the Plymouth-based Navy team onto Stert
Island, where the bomb had been spotted earlier in the week by
local fisherman Dave Saunders.
A
one mile exclusion zone remains in operation around Stert Island
to prevent boats putting themselves in any danger.
Avon
and Somerset
Police West Deputy District Commander Supt Gary Davies said: "There
is no risk to residents or the public, although there will be
a loud bang from the bay."
"I
would ask local people to not try and get near to the site as
the road network in the area is not built for large numbers of
cars and people face getting stuck in traffic if they do make
attempts to get close."
"People
will no doubt see the result of the detonation in the media, but
please do not try and travel out in boats or on the surrounding
mud flats to get a closer look."
Our
photos show the Royal Navy Bomb Squad arriving back in Burnham
on Saturday morning (April 12th) and at work on Stert Island with
the bomb on Friday afternoon
RELATED
LINKS:
Video
coverage of the bomb disposal team at work
Planned
detonation of bomb is postponed
Lifeboats
called out to help bomb disposal team
First
photo of Stert Island bomb up close
Bomb
found on Stert Island - hovercrafts help with work
Burnham-On-Sea
Coastguard Web site
Burnham-On-Sea
RNLI Web site
Burnham-On-Sea
Hovercraft Web site
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