A Suffolk volunteer coast patrol team helped with the dramatic detonation of a parachute bomb, which had been picked up by a fishing trawler near to the Essex shoreline.

The Felixstowe Coast Patrol was called to assist the Royal Navy’s explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) diver team and Dover Coastguard after the discovery early this morning.

The bomb had been picked up in the nets of a trawler off the entrance to the River Blackwater.

Crew members left the Suffolk Yacht Harbour at 6am, having put their lifeboat into the water at 5am to ensure it was ready before low-tide.

“We towed the Royal Navy Zodiac rib and dive crew to the marker buoys of the parachute bomb caught up in the fishing nets,” said crew member Martyn Prior. “We then were asked to provide a 1,000 meter exclusion zone to all traffic around the bomb.”

Mr Prior said the bomb was successfully detonated by 9.50am and the Royal Navy EOD team was then towed back to their rendezvous point at Clacton Lifeguard Station.

“Today’s incident confirms our presence as dedicated Lifeboat Service in our local waters of Suffolk and surrounding areas,” he added.