Army to remove suspect cylinder found on Littlehampton beach

RNLI lifeguard Joshua O’Connor-Wright found an unmarked cylinder lying on the sand near his base at the Norfolk Road end of the Promenade at about 11.30am.

After his supervisor had a look at the object, the Coastguard service was informed and two Coastguards from the Littlehampton unit went to the scene.

Lifeguards helped them to bury the cylinder, measuring about 14 inch long by 6 inch in diameter, under a mound of stones as the tide came in, to secure it beneath the waves until an Army bomb disposal crew arrives to take it away this evening.

“We have secured it to minimise the risk of it rolling away under the tidal forces, in the hope it will still be there once the tide recedes. It’s safe from the public under the water,” said Laurence Pettitt, Coastguard deputy station manager for Littlehampton.