A 350-kilo magnetic mine dating back to World War II got caught in the trawl of the fishing vessel Sóley on Wednesday last week.
Icelandic trawlers. Archive photo by Bjarni Brynjólfsson.
Its location, 20 nautical miles west of Reykjanestá, southwest Iceland, puzzled explosive experts at the Icelandic Coast Guard, ruv.is reports.
Usually such mines are found further to the north near Garðskagi as shown by illustrations of magnetic mine fences laid out by the German military in that area during World War II.
A recent rope which had been fastened to the mine led them to conclude that it had been caught before but dropped back into the ocean.
Hrafnhildur Stefánsdóttir, information officer at the Coast Guard, said such conduct is reprehensible as the crew of the ship in question jeopardized their own safety and the safety of others.
ESA
