Photo courtesy: Mumbaimirror.com

A bomb, dating back to World War II, packed with 45 kilograms of explosives, has been found at the Mumbai harbour during dredging operations, police said today.The shell has been stored at an isolated location in the Mumbai Port Trust premises after it was found off Cross Islands on Thursday, as the city police does not have the expertise to defuse the shell.The Naval Armament Depot has been asked to dismantle the 21-inches-long and seven-inches-wide metal case."Labourers of Jaisu Shipping Company were operating a dredger near Cross Islands when they stumbled upon the shell after their boat suddenly stopped functioning. When they checked, they saw the large cylinder-shaped metal that was obstructing the dredger. They alerted the port authorities who in turn alerted us," said Pandurang Dhoke, senior inspector at Yellow Gate police station.Sources said the Bomb Detection and Disposal Squad (BDDS) tried to defuse it after dogs sniffed presence of explosive material but later realised it did not have necessary expertise to dismantle such a shell and decided to call in Navy's bomb disposal squad.The bomb was retrieved at Cross Islands, the same site where the historic 1944 blast took place, when a British ship SS Fort Stikine, carrying gold and explosives, caught fire. 700 people lost their lives, 28 ships were damaged and the fire had raged for three days.

The explosions were so powerful, that gold bars were found all over the accident site - some even as far as two kilometres away - near the St Xavier's School.