Scampi fisherman nets a wartime mine

Published on Wednesday 10 December 2008 10:35

A FISHERMAN is lucky to be alive after reeling in a Second World War bomb the size of a car.

Francis Greig, 60, was almost washed out to sea as he battled for six hours to try to untangle the eight-foot mine from his fishing net.

The trawler, who usually reels in scampi, thought to trawl the bomb rather than let it go when he found it on Monday morning.

This allowed members of the Royal Navy bomb disposal unit to carry out a controlled explosion in the Firth of Forth yesterday just three miles from Edinburgh.

Experts say the bomb was in such a bad state they were unable to identify whether it was British or German.

Mr Grieg said: "Maybe I was in shock, but I could see the guts of this thing and knew it was live.

"Years ago a Granton trawler blew up because they pulled in a mine, so I was wasn't going to mess around.

"If it had gone off, I would have gone up with it – I would have been food for the fish instead of the other way around.

"It was bigger and heavier than a car and a real struggle to get rid of."

Angus McIver, Forth Coastguard watch manager, said: "Mr Greig's remarkable calmness under pressure meant the device was left safely out of the way of other ships, and the ordinance disposal team blew it up."