Mine event in Hampshire, Andover area, United Kingdom on Fri 10th July 2020

Unexploded WWII landmine found at Apsley Farms in Andover. The owners of family-run Apsley Farms in Andover had an unusual Friday yesterday after a WWII landmine was found in one of their fields. Edward du Val, operations manager of Apsley Farms, told The Advertiser: “We recently cut the fields for harvest early as we silage all of our crops for energy production of gas and electricity by anaerobic digestion. “This made the land available for metal detectorists to go out, following social distancing measures.” And the metal detectorist got quite a shock when they discovered an undetonated WWII explosive, yesterday afternoon. Mr du Val said: “The landmine must have been left here by the Canadian army who were using the land in preparation for D-Day. “We have been very lucky, we’ve been ploughing these fields for 50 years. He added: “It is quite worrying. You don’t know if there are more out there. We have been cultivating these fields for 50 years. I hope it’s not going to happen again.” Once the discovery was made, they called 999 and bomb disposal experts arrived to carry out a controlled explosion. They placed around one grenade’s worth of explosive to blow up the device however experts said the Canadian landmine itself carried around 27 times the amount of explosive.