Nazi-era mine washes ashore in Sweden

The mine was discovered at the weekend on the shoreline near Lörudden, south of Sundsvall, an area popular with summer tourists.

Police believe the mine likely washed ashore in the wake of winter storm Dagmar, which battered much of Sweden over the Christmas holidays.

“It can be an intact mine and thus there is a risk that any further tampering could cause it to detonate,” Swedish Armed Forces spokesperson Philip Simon told the local Sundsvalls Tidning newspaper.

On Monday, bomb experts from the Swedish navy examined the mine and concluded it likely contained live explosives.

They believe it to be an EMA-type contact mine used by the Germans during World War II.

A navel munitions successfully disarmed the mine on Tuesday.

“We’re going to try to split it with a charge to see what’s inside,” Jonas Hedman of the fourth naval combat flotilla told the TT news agency prior to the operation.

A 1,200 metre safety perimeter has been set up around the mine and a helicopter was sent to patrol the area with a heat-sensing camera to ensure no one was nearby.

Experts warned that the mine could have contained an 150 to 220 kilogrammes of explosives, but as it turned out there were no explosives in the mine.

A similar, empty mine, floated up on shore in Åkersberga outside of Stockholm at the weekend.