Bomb experts today detonated a wartime mine which sparked a major alert after being discovered off Southend Pier.

In a controlled explosion just off the Essex coastline, the exploding bomb produced a spectacular water spout of some 25-30 metres.

Around 600 people, including scores of children on an Easter egg hunt, had to be evacuated yesterday afternoon after the 4ft German parachute bomb was fished up by a trawler.

Royal Navy bomb disposal experts from Portsmouth quickly instructed police to throw a safety cordon round the affected vessel, named the Gannet.

But specialist divers who visited the scene, three quarters of a mile out to sea and 300 metres to the west of the pier, quickly discovered the tide was too strong to deal with the mine last night.

Instead they decided to mark the area with a buoy and return today.

The divers worked until darkness carefully untangling the mine from the ship's netting.

Trippers on the pier when the alarm was raised were quickly packed back on to trains for the shore.

Pier and foreshore officer Marjory Hall said: "We were told by the police to evacuate the pier as quickly as possible because of a possible emergency, so everybody went into action.

"The message was put out on our internal radio system. Everybody accepted the situation, although there was one lady who was not too happy about it.

"We advised everybody to keep their tickets so they would be allowed back on the pier another time.

"We had arranged an Easter egg hunt for children and that was in full swing at the time."

Picture, top: Shut off - Southend Pier was evacuated in the middle of an Easter egg hunt

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