Bomb disposal team called out and beach cordoned off after massive mine found near Porthpean

A Royal Navy bomb disposal team has been deployed after the discovery of a large mine off the Cornish coast.

St Austell Coastguard was called to reports of a large metal buoy off Porthlean at around 1:15pm on Monday 11 March.

On inspection, crews believed the object to be a mine, and photos were sent to their ops room to confirm this.

Due to challenging tide times that day, a bomb disposal team was deployed at 8am on Tuesday 12 March.

Upon arrival, four crew members confirmed that the object was an inert training mine, and therefore not a threat, however it still needed to be removed for safety to other water users.

A plan was made to float it to shore with the rising tide.

The removal team and harbour masters team then successfully towed it to Charlestown for removal.

Following the mission, St Austell Coastguard said: "We would like to thank all involved and the public for their patience and in particular the first informant who did exactly the right thing by calling us.

"Remember, in an emergency at the coast , call 999 and ask for the coastguard."