You never know what will wash up on the beach. Last week, for example, two children came across what they thought was a barnacle-encrusted scuba tank. It turned out to be an air-drop bomb from World War II.
More: Bomb squad takes mysterious shell
According to Gulf Coast News, the unsuspecting children even touched and took photos of the object, which washed ashore on Englewood Beach in Charlotte County.
On Saturday, June 14, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office was notified, a deputy confirmed it was a bomb and an unknown number of residents on the beach were evacuated as a precaution.
The logo of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office.
Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Christopher Hall said the department notified the Hazardous Devices Unit of the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office as well as the McDill Air Force Base’s Explosive Ordinance Team.
After it had been determined to be non-explosive, the bomb was taken to McDill.
Though unusual, it is not altogether unheard of that a World War II remnant would wash ashore in the area.
Partly because the west coast of Florida was so sparely populated during the 1940s, aircraft pilots trained in Sarasota County, including at the Venice airport.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Residents stunned by World War II bomb found on Englewood Beach