BOMB disposal experts have blown up a 1,500lb mine discovered in the Solent.

The explosion sent a plume 300m into the air after a team set up a safety cordon three quarters of a mile around the site.

The Second World War ground mine was found by a crane barge 1,500m off Southsea while it was removing debris from a site being dredged.

A Royal Navy bomb disposal squad towed the device overnight to open waters about 1,500m off the coast of Bembridge, on the Isle of Wight, and blew it up at about 10.45am.

Petty officer Richard Ellis, in cahrge of a six-man team of bomb disposal officers from Portsmouth-based Southern Diving Unit 2, said: “These mines were laid in their thousands during the Second World War but are rarely encountered these days – it’s only the second one we have dealt with in three years.

“The other one was in the mouth of the Thames.

“The mine was in quite good condition and they were engineered to a very high standard, which is probably why it has stayed safe all these years.”