TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO Friday February 28, 1997

Mine recovered

A practice mine which was lost in Campbeltown at the end of last year was brought back up by a

Royal Navy diving team earlier this week.

Originally trawled up by the fishing boat Crimson Arrow in November last year, the mine slipped through the trawler’s net as it was being brought into the loch.

But due to the way it slipped through the net, the mine remained undiscovered for just over two months despite the efforts of two separate searches by the Royal Navy.

The mine was finally rediscovered by HMS Bicester early last week.

Bad weather made it impossible for the crew of the Bicester to attach a surface riser to it and the mine was left to a Navy diving team to bring it up.

Led by Lt Adrian Dann, the four-man Northern Diving Team from Faslane finally pinpointed the mine on Tuesday morning and brought it up later that day.

The two-tonne mine is currently lying on the New Quay waiting to be picked up by the mine laying team from Cromby, Fife.