A SECOND WORLD war shell discovered on the shore at Findhorn Bay sparked a coastguard emergency on Monday.
The live shell had been spotted by Coastguards during a routine patrol on Sunday, leading to coastguard officers joining police in keeping members of the public away from the area until a Navy bomb disposal team could be brought in to inspect and safely detonate the shell.
The resulting explosion at around 2pm on Monday afternoon could be heard around Findhorn Bay.
“The shell was discovered by the Nairn coastguard team when they were on patrol on Sunday,” a spokesman for the coastguard service said.
He added: “They located the item and sent information to the ordnance disposal team who decided it would be best to carry out a controlled explosion. We believe the shell was about 70 years old.”
A police spokeswoman confirmed that they had assisted in efforts to protect the public from any danger having received notification on Sunday afternoon. She said: “We put protection in place and monitored the area of the beach as a precaution.”