A father and his teenage son stumbled upon a live Second World War mortar bomb during a half-term magnet fishing excursion along the River Stour near Canford Magna in Dorset on Thursday.
Richard Swaffield, 49, a property landlord, had only begun the hobby days earlier after receiving a fishing magnet as a birthday gift from his girlfriend the previous Sunday.
The outing with his 15-year-old son Alfie marked just the second occasion Mr Swaffield had used the equipment.
Half an hour after arriving at the riverbank near Wimborne, the pair had retrieved various items, including a spanner and assorted debris, before making their unexpected discovery.
He immediately recognised the object as a mortar bomb, a type of munition launched from a small cannon that began to be used in the First World War.
The pair were shocked by the discovery while fishing
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GETTY
After removing the device from the water, he carefully transported it away from the riverbank and positioned it on a wooden sleeper, warning nearby members of the public to maintain their distance.
The projectiles were fired from portable tubes at enemy targets in the distance during the war, and it is likely the bomb was used for training.
The police arrived and set up a 200m cordon while they waited for bomb disposal experts from the Army’s Royal Logistic Corps to arrive.
They carried out a controlled explosion on the device, which left a large crater in the ground.
The River Stour, Dorset
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Google Maps
A spokesman for Dorset Police confirmed the incident: “At 10.57am on Thursday February 19, we received a report that a suspected ordnance had been found in the River Stour near Canford Magna.”
Shockingly, it’s not the first unusual discovery at the River Stour, as a 15-year-old boy came across human remains in the river in 2022 – a 1,400 year old human skull.