Praise for caller after explosive alert on Northumberland beach

Howick Coastguard Rescue Team were paged at 3.45pm on Friday, May 21, by Humber Coastguard alerting them to a potential ordnance on the beach at Boulmer.

Photographs were taken of the object and sent to Humber Coastguard for them to forward to Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) for their expert opinion on the device.

Thankfully, there turned out to be no danger posed by the metal object, but the team say the caller did the right thing by raising the alarm.

The incident follows a call reporting a suspected a time-expired flare which was found at Amble earlier this week, with the item declared safe following similar checks.

A spokesperson for the team said: “Once EOD had received the images and analysed them they decided the object was an old filter and the room was then stood down.

“We would like to stress that the first informant did exactly the right thing in calling 999 and asking for the Coastguard, and we would urge anybody who finds any suspicious looking object on our coastline to do the same.

"We would much rather attend and find the item is safe than not attend and somebody pick it up and sustain an injury, or potentially be killed.”

The team has said people should remember, in an emergency at sea or on the coast, or if it is though someone may be in difficulty, to always call the Coastguard by dialling 999.

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