WWII bomb cleared from a resort beach after it was exposed during an unusually low tide

A live bomb from WWII was successfully detonated this week, after it was found on the shore of the Bristol Channel in England.

The bomb was an Anti-Submarine Mortar bomb, thought to have been used in the area by a nearby MOD weapon research facility, according to a news release by the Royal Navy on Wednesday. Because the bomb was highly explosive, they could not move or disturb the bomb until low tide.

“We marked the site and waited until the next low tide. Then with the help of the Avon & Somerset Police, set up a two km bubble over the site with a NOTAM, (Notice to Airmen) and a one and half km cordon around the device before carrying out a controlled explosion of the mortar bomb,” said Petty Officer Diver Rob Bishop, team leader of the duty bomb disposal crew, in a statement on Wednesday.

This isn’t the first time WWII bombs have been found in the United Kingdom. Just this year, London police had to evacuate a number of streets in central London after discovering an unexploded bomb from the era in Soho.