Beached iron ball that children played on was giant WWII mine packed with explosives

-Mirror

A beached iron ball that children played on turned out to be a World War II sea mine packed with explosives.

For years families even lit barbecues and fires alongside the find, in Eigg, an island off Scotland, believing it to be a harmless sea flotation device.

But strong winds blew away sand beneath the metal object and revealed its full explosive casing intact.

A bomb disposal team rushed to the Laig beach site and frantically evacuated nearby homes.

Graphic designer Ben Cormack, whose dad John lives 100 yards from the beach, discovered the find.

He said: “The winter storms removed about a foot of the sand’s depth and revealed what looked like a sea mine.

“It was a bit of a worry because it was only a stone’s throw away from my dad’s front door.

“It had always been presumed to be an old wartime buoy. There have been many beach fires around it.

“I couldn’t be sure so I took a picture and emailed it to the police. Within an hour, they phoned me to say that the Navy Bomb Disposal Unit were coming to look at it.

“The sergeant in charge was at first very concerned as the explosive casing appeared to be intact, which would contain around 300lb of high explosives.

“The houses would need to be evacuated, animals moved and the mine dragged as far away as possible at low tide and buried as deep in the sand before a controlled detonation could even be attempted.

“Luckily, when they started cleaning it, they found the casing to be full of sand, not explosives.

“To be sure, the team performed several small controlled explosions on the mine to break it apart.”

Ben, 32, added: “The mine was a British one used to protect Allied shipping lanes in World War II from German U-boats and warships. It’s a rare example as they are not usually found with the explosive casing still intact. That’s why they were very worried.”

Police Scotland said: “We received a call from the Isle of Eigg about a wartime sea mine. Our officers in Fort William were advised.

“The matter was handed over to the Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal, who successfully carried out a controlled explosion. We’d like to thank the member of public who contacted us from Eigg.”

Dave Macbeth, of Stornoway Coastguard, who were also involved in the operation, said: “The guy did good. He realised that this was something more than people thought and he was right.”