A torpedo which was reeled in by a fishing boat off the coast of Fife last week has been “lost.”
Royal Navy explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) specialists from Faslane searched the waters off the coast of Elie in the region’s picturesque East Neuk but were unable to retrieve the torpedo, which is feared to be a live second world war weapon.
Having been unable to find the bright yellow bomb, the team gave up the search on Monday.
The fishing trawler from Pittenweem that had found the torpedo caught up in its nets on Friday afternoon had used oil cans to mark its location when they threw it back overboard.
It is believed the weekend’s bad weather washed the markers away.
A spokesman for Forth Coastguard said the navy team were much in demand and would not waste time looking for a device that was not marked.
But he gave reassurance that the torpedo did not pose any danger to the public.’Out of the way'”It’s well enough out of the way. It’s in deep enough water and far enough offshore.”
The Forth estuary is believed to be riddled with explosives.
Tens of thousands were laid down during the second world war to stop German U-boats entering Scottish waters.
However it is not known whether the torpedo found by the fishing boat was live or not because that is what the divers had been sent to find out.
It is understood devices dumped in the Forth in recent years tend to be “practice” torpedoes that do not explode.
If it is a relic from the second world war, it is likely to be live.’All over the Forth’The coastguard spokesman said the torpedo would remain where it is until it was discovered again.
“They’re sitting dotted all over the Forth. It’s a wee bit like the lottery. A fisherman sometimes goes out and picks one up.
“Years ago it used to be a regular occurrence that fishing boats swept them up but many have been swept up over the years. This could be one that went astray.”
The EOD team from Faslane was assisted by Forth Coastguard and the RNLI Anstruther lifeboat.
It was the second incident they had dealt with in Fife in the space of a week. On Wednesday a member of the public discovered a second world war shell at Kinshaldy beach.
The bomb disposal experts carried out a controlled explosion the following morning.