Part of Brean beach was cordoned off by Police after a suspected wartime explosive was found in the sand last night (Saturday).
Coastguards and Police were initially called to the road entrance to Brean beach at 7pm on Saturday evening when the metallic device was uncovered. The beach warden raised the alarm after spotting it in the sand.
Police taped off a 100-metre area around the object and then cleared the area with the the help of Coastguards to keep walkers away.
Photos of the object were sent to the Army’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD), who said they would need to visit the site at first daylight on Sunday morning to examine it further.
Volunteers from BARB Search & Rescue and Burnham Coastguard kept the safety cordon in place around the device overnight.
The Army’s EOD team then arrived at around 8.30am this morning (Sunday) to safely remove the device, which was confirmed as a 15lb wartime British shrapnel shell.
Burnham Coastguard Officer Ian Jefferies told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “The call initially came in from the beach warden when he found the device during a litter-pick.”
“He recognised it as a suspicious, potentially dangerous item and immediately contacted us.”
“We sent a photo to EOD and they confirmed that it needed closer inspection. We maintained a safety cordon through the night with the help of BARB’s crewmembers – a big thank you goes to them for their help.”
“The EOD team arrived soon at 8.30am and safely removed the device after finding it was a second world war 15lb shrapnel shell with the top detonator no longer attached.”
“The cordon was lifted and the beach was fully opened to visitors.”
