Specialist diggers were called to a construction site, and were left horrified by what they discovered eight metres down below the surface – and it could have been life-threatening
Specialist diggers working at a construction site were left horrified by what they found eight metres down.
A friend of one of the workmen at the site revealed they had dug straight down into the earth to make sure everything was safe for future building plans. But what they found registered the project a potential disaster and led to an explosive end. Taking to Twitter/X with photos of the find, Tony Brown revealed an ex-sapper mate of his and their team dug a shaft to reach a life-threatening item.
Thankfully those involved with the recovery of the buried ordnance were left unscathed after finding an unexploded German bomb from the Second World War in Essex.
Tony revealed: “My ex Sapper Mate works for a company that checks out construction sites for unexploded WW2 Ordnance etc. On a site in Essex they located an anomaly 8 metres down. They had to dig this shaft to locate it. You can see one of the specialists at the bottom of the hole.”
It was soon revealed at the bottom of the hole lay a 250kg German bomb where the team were “about to hand dig”. The ordnance has since been blown up, and Tony revealed the process used to make sure this is done safely. He added: “Apparently it [the bomb] was fitted with an anti handling fuse and a timer fuse.
“The Bomb disposal guys then decided to blow it in situ with 500 tons of sand put on top of it to mitigate the blast Makes you wonder what is still lurking around in the ground. Well done all involved.” Some members of the public were left wondering how the bomb managed to get itself wedged so far underground.
One user asked: “How did it get to be 8 metres down? Fell into a crater that got refilled? Just stuff got built on top?” Tony replied: “Penetrated that far when dropped. They can go deeper than that.” Sappers use special probes to find buried bombs and then dig towards it to safely locate and then detonate it.
Another user added: “80 years old and still good to go. It makes you wonder what else is under your feet!” A third has praised ordnance workers, writing: “Bomb disposal experts are a breed apart. Great photos in this thread. These ordnance can still explode.”
An unexploded bomb made headlines earlier this year after a small town was evacuated. The unexploded WW2 bomb in Colaton Raleigh, Devon, saw members of the public evacuated from their homes before the bomb was extracted and subsequently detonated a safe distance away from people’s homes.
