An unexploded wartime shell has been detonated after being found on Minster Beach, Sheppey.

The ordnance was discovered by a walker around 3pm yesterday.

Sheppey Coastguards were pulled off the search for a missing man, who was reported to have jumped from the M2 bridge over the River Medway at Strood, and returned to the Island.

They had been helping Medway Coastguard and police along with a rescue helicopter and lifeboat crews.

Coastguard Tim Judge said today: “The man who found the unexploded ordnance was waiting for us on the beach.

"It was at the very end of The Leas at Minster, past the beach huts. He showed us where it was and we marked it and notified bomb disposal.

VIDEO: Bomb disposal experts detonate the shell. Courtesy of Sue Gray.

“This is a regular occurrence and a well-tried system is in place. It always sounds more exciting than it is. Most people would not even notice a rusty thing like that.”

But he warned: “If you do find a suspicious object on the beach, don’t touch or move it. Call 999 and ask for Coastguard.”

A bomb disposal unit detonated the device at around 4pm this afternoon.

It is not known what type of shell it is but many from the first and second world wars, and some earlier, are regularly washed up by the tide on Sheppey’s beaches, especially during the winter.

The Coastguards also helped Sheerness lifeboat recover a broken down vessel in the Medway. The Coastguards met the sailors at the Queenborough all-tide landing.