A suspected German wartime bomb which was caught in a fishing net off the coast of the Isle of Wight has been detonated.

A fishing vessel reported picking up the 7ft-long sea mine, which was “most likely an old German wartime sea mine”, about a mile from the Needles at around 8am on Saturday, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) said.

Bomb disposal experts from the Royal Navy’s Portsmouth base were called in to detonate the device, while warnings were issued to ships and public in the area.

Wartime sea mine caught in fishing net
The device was caught in a fishing net off the coast of the Isle of Wight (MOD/Royal Navy)

Divers placed the mine back on the sea bed and blew up the bomb – found to contain 2,000lb of explosives – at 10.51am on Sunday, the Ministry of Defence said.