Another bomb washes up at Benone

This is the second time an unexploded and potentially unstable WWII bomb has washed up on the beach in recent weeks, and the third in just a few months.

The Beach was closed as army technical officers worked to make the area safe.

Local Sinn Féin councillor Cathal McLuaghlin, speaking to the Sentinel from the area, advised people to be especially vigilant. He said: “It is a big danger. This is the second time this has happened in just a a couple of weeks. It was discovered by someone just out walking their dog.

“With it coming in to tourist season, you would be afraid that a child would discover it and not know what it is and maybe jump on it or something. That is the frightening thing about it.

“I would advise people to be especially vigilant – and if they do see anything to just report it straight away and don’t be going anywhere near it.”

After peace broke out at the end of WWII, substantial munitions were dumped at sea in Beauforts Dyke in the Irish Sea between the Rhins of Galloway in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

A Ministry of Defence recently estimated that more than a million tonnes of weapons were dumped in the long narrow trough — which are apparently now ending up on the Benone shoreline on a regular basis.

Curator of the local Shackleton and Aviation Museum, Norman Thorpe told the Sentinel that the Beaufort Dyke is one of many possible sources of the bombs which are washing up on the shore. He said: “It could be coming from Beaufort Dyke, where over a million tonnes were dumped at sea. You would need to know what type of bomb it was to give you a better idea of where it was coming from.

“I don’t think it would have come from one of the ranges. We have maps here at the museum to show where the Americans were carrying out their training for the D-Day landings. They were preparing for battle and there would have been a large number of bombs used in training. It is difficult to know.

“The next thing you could see is Royal Navy boats coming up and carrying out some mine-sweeping work if this keeps up.”

Asked whether the bombs would still be as dangerous after being at sea for such a long period of time, Mr Thorpe said: “They could be very unstable. There could be all kinds of different types of munitions. They could be on a timer – you could touch the thing and it could start ticking. The only people who would really know are the army technical officers, who are trained to deal with this kind of thing. It could be extremely dangerous.”