A new bomb scare led to the closure of several hundred metres of Brean beach on Tuesday morning (August 18th).
Metal detector enthusiast Mike Bailey, pictured, raised the alarm after discovering a large cylinder-shaped metal object partially uncovered in the mud and soft sand at the foot of Brean Down.
Beach warden Pete Williams alerted Burnham Coastguards, who rushed to the scene at 9.45am, as pictured here.
Officer in charge Ian Jefferies told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “A 100 metre cordon was introduced after the metal object was found a foot underneath the surface in a pool of sea water.”
“We carefully dug a trench around the pool to drain it of water and get a better look. We wanted to assess whether the Royal Navy bomb squad would be needed.”
“Once the water was drained from around it, it was clear the object was a harmless gas cylinder.”
“But the beach warden and metal detector user did the right thing in alerting us because at first sight it definitely appeared to be a suspicious object, with the metal shell and shape being similar to ordnance.”
He added that the beach was fully re-opened to the public by late morning.
It comes less than two weeks after another ‘bomb’ scare at nearby Berrow when part of the beach was closed off by Coastguards as a Royal Navy bomb disposal team were called to investigate a suspicious object in the sand.
A huge wartime bomb was exploded on the mudflats near Stert Island last year after being discovered by a fisherman. And an empty wartime bombshell was found in the sand dunes last September, causing part of Berrow beach to be shut for several hours.
