US

Live World War II Aerial Bomb Washes Up On North Carolina Beach

(JOSE LUIS MAGANA/AFP via Getty Images)

Dylan Housman Deputy News Editor
Font Size:

Tourists were kept out of the Cape Hatteras Light Station grounds Thursday after a live 100-pound bomb washed up on the beach, according to reports. 

The National Park Service set up a half-mile perimeter around the historic North Carolina lighthouse in the Outer Banks, according to the Charlotte Observer. The bomb was determined by a U.S. Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit to be a military aerial bomb from the World War II era, the National Park Service said

The Navy EOD unit planned to detonate the bomb Friday morning after burying it “deep inside the beach”, according to the Observer. However, the detonation of the device was delayed until later in the day Friday due to a residential fire in the neighboring Buxton, NC. (RELATED: Hundreds Evacuated In Poland While Largest Unexploded World War II Bomb Is Defused)

The ordnance was found at the edge of the surf and may have been buried in the sand, the Observer reports. “The discovery of old military devices is not uncommon along the Outer Banks,” National Parks of Eastern N.C. Superintendent David Hallac said. The historic light station and surrounding beaches will remain closed until the bomb is safely detonated, the Charlotte Observer says.