An Icelandic fishing vessel, Bjartur NK, caught an unexpected object in their nets last week: a sea mine which was laid by the British navy during the Second World War. Naval mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with a ship or a submarine.
The ship was fishing southeast of Iceland in an area that German marines nicknamed Rosengarten or the Rose Garden during the war.
It is believed that the British navy laid close to 100 thousand mines in the area from 1940 to 1943, creating an extensive minefield between Iceland and the Faroe Islands.
A bomb squad from The Icelandic Coast Guard (ICG) advised the fishing vessel’s crew how to handle the mine. According to the National Broadcasting Service's, RÚV, website photos from the crew showed that the mine’s ignition device had become disconnected so it was judged safe for the ship to bring it unaided to shore.
The fishing vessel’s captain Jóhann Örn Jóhannsson told RÚV that his crew witnessed the mine’s shell going from metal gray to rust red in a matter of minutes when it got in touch with oxygen after being submerged for more than seventy years.
When the ship returned to harbour at town Neskaupsstaður in East Iceland, ICG’s bomb experts took over and safely got rid of the mine.
An Icelandic fishing vessel, Bjartur NK, caught an unexpected object in their nets last week: a sea mine which was laid by the British navy during the Second World War. Naval mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with a ship or a submarine.
The ship was fishing southeast of Iceland in an area that German marines nicknamed Rosengarten or the Rose Garden during the war.
It is believed that the British navy laid close to 100 thousand mines in the area from 1940 to 1943, creating an extensive minefield between Iceland and the Faroe Islands.
A bomb squad from The Icelandic Coast Guard (ICG) advised the fishing vessel’s crew how to handle the mine. According to the National Broadcasting Service's, RÚV, website photos from the crew showed that the mine’s ignition device had become disconnected so it was judged safe for the ship to bring it unaided to shore.
The fishing vessel’s captain Jóhann Örn Jóhannsson told RÚV that his crew witnessed the mine’s shell going from metal gray to rust red in a matter of minutes when it got in touch with oxygen after being submerged for more than seventy years.
When the ship returned to harbour at town Neskaupsstaður in East Iceland, ICG’s bomb experts took over and safely got rid of the mine.
