Army bomb squad called over 'suspicious item' buried on beach

West Kirby beach was closed on Sunday as the bomb squad swarmed the area following reports of a suspicious item buried in the sand. A member of the public called the coastguard after seeing what they thought to be a suspicious item.

Wirral Coastguard Rescue Team responded to the incident on Sunday (September 22) morning and the bomb squad were called. A huge cordon was put in place and the beach was closed for a number of hours to the public while the investigation was underway. The item was removed off the beach and collected by Wirral Council.

A spokesperson for Wirral Coastguard Rescue Team posted on their Facebook page, they said: “Coastguard Rescue Officers arrived on scene, located the item in question, and sent photographs to the Army Bomb Disposal for analysis. A safety cordon was put in place to keep the public away from the area until it could be confirmed what the item was.

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“Army Bomb Disposal could not confirm via the photographs so attended for a closer inspection." A team attended the scene and carried out a further analysis of the buried item. However, their investigation confirmed it to be a buried traffic cone base.

A spokesperson for Wirral Coastguard Rescue Team added: "Thankfully after investigation it was confirmed to be a buried traffic cone base. This was removed off the beach and collected by Wirral Council.

“The beach was reopened and the team stood down. The first informant did the correct thing by reporting the item. It's always best to get a suspicious item checked by the professionals.”