The Royal Navy has had to abandon a second attempt to detonate a live 2,000lb Second World War mine off the Essex coast after the device was "mislaid" during the first operation.
The mine was picked up by a dredger near Clacton on Friday, but was lost by bomb disposal experts as they tried to lower it to the sea bed on Saturday. Divers were sent to retrieve it, but were unable to locate it and had to abandon their efforts due to foul weather.
A Royal Navy team planned to find and detonate the mine yesterday, but was thwarted by the continuing windy weather.
A spokesperson for the team said: "They know where it is. When it is safe to do so they will get down to it and dive on it. They put it on the sea bed safely."
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