Fishing crew catch mine off coast

It took several days to explode a bomb found on the Suffolk coast last month

The crew of a fishing vessel have caught a mine off the Essex coast.

The device was discovered in the trawler's nets 3.7 miles (6km) from the coast at Burnham-on-Crouch.

The mines charge had already degraded so a Royal Navy diving team were able to carry out a routine controlled explosion, a Navy spokeswoman said.

The Navy team, from Portsmouth, were able to dispose of the bomb at sea within hours of the device being found in the morning.

Efforts to dispose of a bomb off the Suffolk coast by the Navy were hampered three weeks ago when the device was lost at sea.

That bomb was eventually exploded a week later on 28 April.