Tours of a wrecked war 'bomb ship' which had been set to end due to the removal of rusting masts – the only part of the vessel that can be seen above the water – will continue until further notice.

A boat tours company says it has not received an official date for when the work on the SS Richard Montgomery will take place.

The munitions cargo ship, built during the Second World War, has become an unlikely but popular tourist attraction off Sheerness.

It sank in August 1944 but still holds 1,400 tonnes of unexploded bombs. As a result, the Ministry of Defence has ordered that the three rusting masts must be hacked down.

A £5 million contract has been issued and work to dismantle its masts is expected to begin in June.

However, Richard Bain, managing director at Jetstream Tours, said he and his team had not seen any movement or signs of works commencing any time soon.

He said: "Today marks what was supposed to be the last weekend, but we are looking at putting a few more tours on.

"Only because we haven't seen any movement or anything that might be used to remove the masts.

"All we know was that works would begin in June, but we haven't heard of any official dates. So on that note we're still going to give people the opportunity to see the SS Montgomery for as long as we can until we know exactly when they're going to be starting the works.

"At the moment, the tours are very high in popularity. Whenever people get an opportunity to miss out on something, people will then flock to go out and see it for that one last time."

Richard will adapt his tours once the masts are gone, as there won't be anything left to see.

He explained visitors would still hear the stories about the SS Montgomery, but the tour may not do a lap around the wreck site.

The Jetstream Tours boss added that the works would not necessarily cause a big tourism loss to Kent.

He said: "The history of the SS Montgomery is still there.

"There are a couple of groups who are rallying to save the masts and they're hoping that the story of the Montgomery can still be told on the Kent and Essex shores.

"One of them asked if they can have the mast as a monument of the wreck that lays just off shore. That way people still have got something to go and see.

"I think people are still going to be drawn to the area in the knowledge that there are some artefacts there and for the history of it.

"And perhaps that would be more of a tourist attraction than to go out to the shipwreck itself."