Berrow beach re-opens as bomb squad declares wartime bombshell safe

Published: September 27, 2008
Berrow beach re-opens as bomb squad declares wartime bombshell safe

Berrow beach was fully re-opened to the public on Saturday morning (September 27th) after a team from the Royal Navy bomb squad declared this wartime bombshell found in the dunes "harmless".

Burnham-On-Sea.com first reported on Friday how police had sealed off several hundred metres of the beach near Berrow's Unity Farm caravan park when a holidaymaker found the rusty shell partially uncovered in the dunes.

A team from the Royal Navy bomb squad in Plymouth was called to investigate and they declared the device safe at 8.35am on Saturday morning after examining the device.

Petty Officer Jim Diamond from the Royal Navy bomb squad (pictured above holding the shell) told Burnham-On-Sea.com: "It's a war time shell about 30-40mm in length that is fortunately quite safe."

"There is no explosive material inside so we were quickly able to declare it safe."

"The police and beach wardens did the right thing in referring it to us, though, as it could have been a more dangerous situation."

The cordon around the area has been lifted and walkers - who had been diverted away from the scene on Friday evening by beach wardens and police - are now able to use the area again. The incident was reported by the BBC here.

Earlier this year, a huge 700kg German sea mine was found on Stert Island opposite Burnham-On-Sea. It was safely detonated by the Navy bomb squad on April 12th, as captured here.

Our photos show the scenes on Berrow beach on Saturday morning as the RN Bomb Disposal team investigated the device.

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