Naval mine washed up on the shore of a South Florida beach. (Collage: Parker Branton-Twitter)
A naval mine was carried by the current to a beach in South Florida, which caused alarm among bathers who went for a swim and the authorities who came to the scene.
A patrol found the unexploded explosive in the sand around 2 a.m. Sunday, very close to the water in Lauderdale.
Police immediately closed the perimeter, calling the Broward County bomb squad to inspect the device.
According to the digital medium Daily Mail, the authorities arrived to remove the explosive from the place and make sure it is harmless. Now it will be handed over to the United States Air Force for them to investigate the origin of the device.
In the photographs shared by various local media, the word “Inert” can be seen on the side of the mine, which could suggest that the device was not explosive and could be used during training exercises.
This type of device is released from a boat and is connected to the sea floor, with the aim of exploding on contact with some other boat or submarine, however there are times when the chain that connects them separates and these explosives end up at the same time. drift.
According to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office, an officer found the device during an early morning patrol about 30 miles north of Miami.
Similarly, during a statement issued by the police, it was indicated that the authorities secured the area around the mine and closed a small section of the beach.
After the device was carefully determined to be safe, it was removed from the site and the beach was reopened.
A video recorded by the local news outlet Local 10 News, showed that the mine partially buried in the sand a few meters from the water, surrounded at a safe distance by cones delimiting the area.
Officers could later be observed loading the device into one of the vehicles after the bomb squad certified that it was safe to handle.
Military sources told the local media that sometimes the mines are taken by traffickers and filled with drugs, so that later they are collected by people in the United States.