These are the images of the huge civil-war bomb discovered by an off-duty cop which led to the evacuation of a popular beach in Barcelona.
According to local media, the explosive device was found three metres (10 feet) deep and 25 metres (85 feet) from the shore of Sant Sebastia beach in Barcelona, in the Catalonia region of northeastern Spain.
Video Credit: CEN
The bomb was detected by an off-duty Spanish Civil Guard officer who was visiting the beach. It is unclear if the officer was diving at the time.
Albert Batlle, the Barcelona security councillor, said that the explosive body might be a very old air projectile that belongs to the Spanish Civil War.
The local officers, assisted by the Mossos d’Esquadra (Catalan police) and port police, cordoned the area not only on the beach but also in the sea.
Some of the restaurants were also closed down during the incident.
According to local media, the bomb squad confirmed that the explosive body is around 1.10 metres (3.6 feet) long, with an 80-centimetre (2.6-foot) diameter, adding that it could be dangerous to handle.
The squad then sought the help of army specialists who travelled to the city of Barcelona from Cartagena, in the southeastern Spanish region of Murcia.
A Civil Guard spokeswoman told Central European News (CEN): “The army divers are already in Barcelona and we are meeting to discuss how to neutralise the bomb and how to do it.”
She added: “The artefact is from 1936, the beginning of Spanish Civil War, and contains 70 kilogrammes of trinitrotoluene and is highly volatile so that it was decided it would be taken to a depth of 45 metres (147 feet) to detonate it.”
Local media later reported the bomb is to be moved via submerged elevation balloons to another site although the final location is still unknown.
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Story By: Ana Lacasa, Sub-Editor: Alex Cope, Agency: Central European News
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