Beach reopens after timber slick

Worthing beach was shut to allow contractors to remove the timber

A Sussex beach which closed after thousands of tonnes of timber washed ashore from a sunken cargo ship has been partly reopened.

Contractors have picked up hundreds of smaller pieces of timber washed ashore from the Ice Prince and begun the first phase of reopening Worthing beach.

The area between the pier and lido had been closed for just over two weeks.

Other areas of the five-mile stretch would be clear for Easter, a borough council spokeswoman said.

Wood piled up several feet deep on the tide line from the Greek-registered Ice Prince, which sank about 26 miles (42km) off Portland Bill in Dorset after a storm on 15 January.

The ship shed more than 2,000 tonnes of her 5,260-tonne cargo, leaving beaches along the Sussex coast from Ferring to Hastings littered with timber.

The 10m (33ft) lengths of sawn wood were put on board in bundles, but sea conditions broke many of them apart.

The council has made fresh pleas to all people visiting the coastline to take extreme care when on the beach and foreshore.