BOMB disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion in the sea near Hengistbury Head after a live grenade was found in the garden of a home in Kinson.

The WWII device was uncovered by a resident of Horsham Avenue under a washing line pole on Sunday afternoon. The Royal Navy Ordnance Disposal Team was dispatched an took the device the beach to carry out a controlled explosion under the water.

 


 

Dorset Police cleared an area of the between two groynes just along the coast from Hengistbury Head to allow the explosion to take place around 6pm.

Deborah Wilson David, who was visiting the area from Lincolnshire, watched the action unfold from the Southbourne Coast Road.

 


 

 


 

She told the Echo a navy frogman in a wetsuit carrying a bag containing the device walked backwards into the sea while unrolling a cable, swimming out a little way before depositing the bag and returning to the beach. The navy team then detonated the device from a safe distance.

“The explosion was far larger than we expected,” she added. “A big plume of water shot up in the air – it was much more dramatic than we thought. Then they tidied it all up and disappeared within five minutes.”