The Royal Navy bomb disposal team were called into action at a Pembrokeshire beach last week to detonate an object identified by experts as part of a 120mm mortar.

The bomb disposal experts from the Explosives and Ordnance Disposal Unit, Plymouth were responding to reports that an unexploded ordnance had been found buried in the sand between Swallowtree and Monkstone on Tuesday afternoon by a member of the public.

Tenby’s coastguard team were tasked with cordoning off the site, and they returned the following morning shortly before 6 am, to keep watch on the area assisted by the Llansteffan coastguard team, and police as the tide ebbed.

The bomb disposal team arrived at 2.35 pm, with police cordoning off all accesses to the beach ahead of the detonation, which took place at 4 pm, leaving a crater in the sand more than a metre deep and half a metre wide.

“The advice to the public in these situations is to report the matter and leave it to the experts,” said a coastguard spokesperson.