About 250 ferry passengers and crew are stranded on ships after a 500lb (227kg) bomb was found in the River Mersey.

The explosive, thought to be from World War II, was discovered by the Royal Navy at Twelve Quays dock, Birkenhead.

 

The Mersey Viking and Dublin Viking, travelling from Dublin and Belfast, were ordered to wait further up the Mersey when they arrived on Tuesday.

 

The Wallasey tunnel was closed for a short time when Navy divers began to move the device out to sea.

 

Merseytravel said the closure was only short and that traffic disruption had been kept to a minimum.

 

The German penetration bomb is being moved to be detonated in deeper water in the Irish Sea before the two Norfolk Line ferries will be allowed to dock.

 

The Mersey Viking has 64 passengers and 55 crew on board. The Dublin Viking has 81 passengers and 46 crew.

 

They were both due to dock in the early hours.

 

Royal Navy spokesman Neil Smith said the bomb would be detonated safely later on Tuesday.

 

He said: "It's an absolutely massive bomb. We don't find bombs that often, although this group of divers throughout the coast of the north of England and Scotland perhaps come across 150 cases of World War II ordnance every year.

 

"So it's something they're used to identifying and dealing with."

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk

They're towing it now, towards New Brighton and are going to carry out an controlled explosion.

 

It was found right opposite the building my boyfriend works in in Liverpool :stunned: