Smoke Mortar Found On Murlough Beach

RNLI lifeguards red flagged a section of Murlough Beach, Newcastle, Co Down, on Thursday afternoon after an unidentifiable object was discovered.

A child went up to the RNLI lifeguard beach unit with an old and rusty metal object which he had discovered while digging in the sand. The object was found just in front of the beach hut between the red and yellow flags not far from the main walkway from the Twelve Arches.

On being unable to identify what the item was, Senior Lifeguard Patrick Knight contacted Belfast Coastguard. The Coastguard subsequently contacted the PSNI and Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment and advised the RNLI to create a 200m perimeter zone from where the device was now located behind the beach hut.

On arrival of the Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment, the item was confirmed to be a two-inch smoke mortar.

Speaking following the incident, Ashlinn Donnelly, RNLI Lifeguard Supervisor said: "The young boy did the right thing yesterday in making the lifeguards aware of this object when he didn't know what it was. Senior Lifeguard Patrick and his fellow lifeguards acted calmly and professionally during the incident in alerting the Coastguard and then red flagging the section of the beach concerned.

"The lifeguards then maintained patrol of the rest of the beach and worked to assist and reassure people visiting at the time. The Coastguard was very helpful and clear on how to respond to the incident and we found the members of the public to be very cooperative."

(CD/JP)