Royal Navy divers from one of the Southern Diving Units dealt with one of the remnants of World War II when they blew up a huge German mine off the Kent coast.

But there’s a good chance the explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) team from Horsea Island in Portsmouth will be back to the area near Herne Bay as the huge GC-type mine may not be the only deadly device on the sea bed.

Fishing boat Our Sarah Jayne hauled in the parachute mine in her nets in the small hours of July 13.

In little more than six hours, the SDU2 team had been aboard the trawler, warned the authorities and disposed of the ordnance after it was carefully lowered back down to the seabed.

The explosives in the damaged mine created a water column at least 250ft high when detonated safely by the Navy team.

“It’s a beast of a mine, 9ft long and weighing about 2,000kg,” said SDU2’s CPO John Meekin. “The biggest danger after all these years is that a jolt may set it off.

“It’s very possible it was lost with an aircraft – an aircraft wheel was also caught in the boat’s net and other German instrumentation has been found in the area. There’s potential for more mines being down there.”