Bomb found on Looe trawler moved and blown up safely

The alarm was raised in a Cornish harbour on Thursday after a suspected bomb was found on a fishing trawler, the Coastguard said.

The Coastguard, police and the Royal Navy's explosive ordnance disposal team were all called to Looe Harbour at about 12:45 GMT.

It was taken out to sea to a location south of the Plymouth Breakwater.

The navy said it was then made safe in a controlled underwater explosion.

A team of Royal Navy divers from HMNB Devonport carried out the explosion on Friday afternoon.

A navy spokesperson said: "The item was discovered to be an inert drill mine which is identical in size and shape to the real thing and was unable to be initially identified due to the age and deteriorated state of the item.

"The team would like to thank the master of the vessel, Devon and Cornwall Police and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency for their assistance with the task."

Speaking to BBC Radio Cornwall, Fred Alsop, from the Fish Market Restaurant in Looe, said he could not open his restaurant on the quay on Thursday evening because the area was cordoned off.

He said: "All of a sudden, just as we were about to open the restaurant last night, we were informed by police that we couldn't do so as a quarantined area of the quay was to be cordoned off and bomb disposal from the Royal Navy were on their way."

Mr Alsop said it was "surreal" that one of the very trawlers the restaurant relies on for its fresh fish had forced its doors to stay closed.

"We're a fresh fish restaurant which specialises in, you know, local day boat fish from Looe and then to be scuppered by the very vessel that we rely on... it's quite a surreal selection of events."

Follow BBC Cornwall on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].