Moment German Wartime Sea Mine Is Detonated Off Isle Of Wight Coast

20 May 2019, 09:19

This is the dramatic moment bomb disposal experts detonated a German WW2 sea mine that was dredged up by a fishing vessel near the Isle of Wight.

HM Naval Base Portsmouth shared the dramatic video showing the moment a controlled explosion took place off the Isle of Wight coast after safely placing it back on the seabed.

The 7ft long 2000lb mine was dredged up by a fishing vessel about a mile off The Needles at on Saturday morning and was "still carrying much of its original explosive material", the Navy base said.

Specialist divers then moved the device, dating back to World World Two, back onto the seabed before a controlled explosion on Sunday creating "quite a splash".

The "big splash" was recorded by HM Naval Base Portsmouth. Picture: HMNB Portsmouth

Writing on Facebook, HMNB Portsmouth said: "Our bomb disposal experts Southern Diving Unit 2 have done it again!

"Called out yesterday to a 2000lb German sea mine dredged up by a fishing vessel 3nm off the Isle of Wight coast - they safely placed it back on the seabed and carried out a controlled explosion this morning.

"At 7ft long and 26 ins wide it was still carrying much of its original explosive material so it created quite a splash."