THE CREW of a small fishing boat trawled up a huge war-time mine close to the coast of Sheppey.

The Joanna Clare, run by Sheppey man Steve Barnes, caught the German parachute mine, thought to be up to 2,000lb in weight, in its nets. The nets then became snagged on the boat's propeller and the mine fell back to the sea bed. The skipper dropped anchor.

Two men were on board when the incident was reported at 11.55am on Monday, just east of Kingsnorth Power Station.

The captain chose to stay on board, but the other crew member was evacuated. A spokesman for Thames Coastguard said: "When we got there, the mine had gone. We presume it had fallen out of the net and back onto the sea bed."

A spokesman for the Royal Navy said it could be one of the biggest mines ever trawled up in the area.The Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit attended the scene.

A diver went down to look for the device, but was unable to find it. Maria Clark, of Medway Ports, based at Sheerness Docks, said: "I spoke to the bomb disposal team, who said if they had found and detonated it with a four-minute fuse. It would have made quite a display in the water.

"No-one was in any danger. The bomb has been there for 50 years and has never done any harm."