Royal Navy Loses WW2 Bomb

Updated:15:12, Thursday April 24, 2008
<H2>A giant war-time bomb that washed up on a beach at Felixstowe has been lost by the Royal Navy as experts prepared to detonate it.

</H2> Felixstowe beach was cleared

Officially, the Navy admits to "misplacing" the bomb, after a combination of equipment and technical failures.
Some 1,000 residents had to be evacuated from their homes earlier this week as Suffolk Police set up an exclusion zone when the device was unearthed.

The World War II German-made device weighs 1,000 lbs and was reportedly scooped up by a workman in the bucket of his digger on Monday.
There were fears that if the bomb went off on the beach, homes on the seafront were in danger of being knocked over.
A Royal Navy bomb disposal team was called in to remove the weapon.
Seafront homes were evacuated

The team attached flotation devices to it and took it out to sea in order to detonate it.
But now the Navy says they have "misplaced" the bomb, after a combination of equipment and technical failures.
Warrant Officer Robin Rickard said: "The bomb was lowered into the sea but has become detached from the equipment.
"Attempts to locate it have been hindered by poor visibility and a strong current.
"We've been let down by an equipment failure and a technical mishap at the same time. The chances of that are very low.
"We will continue looking. It's not lost - it's been misplaced."


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