Unexploded WWII bomb detonated at surf mecca

Lisbon : Demining experts on Monday detonated an unexploded World War II bomb caught in the fishing nets of a trawler off Portugal's surfing mecca of Nazare, navy sources said.

The bomb, weighing "around 200 kilograms (44 pounds) and around 1.60 metres (5.3 feet) long, "contained the blast equivalent of some 600 kilograms of TNT," navy spokesman Pedro Coelho Dias told AFP.

The bomb, detonated at a depth of more than 20 metres inside a 300-metre exclusion zone, was apparently dropped by a plane during World War II, he added.

The trawler encountered the device in the early hours just off the coastline at Nazare, renowned for giant waves which are a magnet for the surfing community in Portugal and beyond.