A BOMB disposal team was called to the old Eardley Hotel site in Worthing after an unexploded hand grenade was dug up by a demolition crew.
The lethal weapon was found by a worker using a mechanical digger to excavate the site in York Road, yesterday (Monday, July 21).
Police arrived at 1.30pm and cordoned off the area between Steyne Gardens and Warwick Road and down from Brighton Road to the seafront.
Click here to see a map of the cordoned area.David Brown, owner of Cannon Demolition, said: "We were digging in the basement. Then the digger picked up the grenade, and it rolled down the pile that we had dug up.
"I could tell it was live because the pin was still in it."
Appeared intactThe five-inch weapon, known as a number 36, or 'pineapple' grenade, was marked with red paint and appeared to be intact.
Eye witness Vince Procter, of Steyne Gardens, took photographs of the incident.
Hesaid: "I was watching from a friend's flat in York Road.
"The police were cordoning off the road, and they asked us if we could go inside.
"But there were these guys building the fairground ride on the beach and the police just let them continue. I thought it was a little bit funny."
Bomb disposalAt 3pm, an Army bomb disposal team arrived at the site and left by 3.15pm taking the grenade away for a controlled explosion.
Worthing Police sergeant Ian Kerr said: "The builders contacted the police initially, and we then contacted the bomb squad.
"They suggested we cordon off an area of 100m which basically meant the seafront."
Sergeant Kerr could not comment on why the fairground workers were not moved from their position on the beach.
See more photographs and details in the Worthing Herald's special report on Thursday, July 24.
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