World War II bomb discovered in Guernsey detonated by Britain's Royal Navy

An old unexploded bomb from World War II has been detonated by a team of Britain's Royal Navy scuba divers in the sea of an island in the English Channel, Guernsey. On Sunday, November 15, the Royal Navy officials visited the site and carried out a formal inspection of the device after which it was decided that it would be disposed off by carrying out a controlled detonation of the World War II bomb. The detonation of the bomb was a controlled explosion which took place off the Queen Elizabeth II Pier in St Peter Port at around 12:05 pm (local time), as per international media reports. An exclusion zone of about 200 meters was set for marine traffic before the detonation of the bomb as a safety measure. A video of the explosion was tweeted by the Guernsey Coastguard. 

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World War II bomb discovered

Found by recreational divers on a routine diver near the island's Queen Elizabeth II Marina on Tuesday, the explosive was reportedly an anti-submarine bomb. Reports further suggest that the World War II explosive was an American-made Mark 54 Lightweight Torpedo depth charge containing about 100 kilos of explosives. It is believed that the device has been lying undisturbed on the seabed for over 75 years now. 

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Speaking about the detonation, a British Royal Navy official told international media that this was the first time that they came across something of this sort in a 'number of years', while expressing surprise that the explosive was found intact. A harbour official said that the task of disposal of such huge explosive devices can only be undertaken by 'specialist'. Hailing the Royal Navy specialist, the harbour official said that they are 'highly qualified divers and explosive ordinance disposal technicians' while adding that the task undertaken by them is much more difficult to do underwater than on land. As per the international media reports, he also informed that the officials took the decision to detonate the World War II bomb at the time of low tide in a bid to prevent the shockwave created by the explosion from hitting the breakwater nearby. 

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