Dummy mine find in Portsmouth Harbour halts ferries

The training mine was found in the shipping channel at the entrance to the harbour during dredging works

A dummy mine found on the seabed led to the disruption of ferry services from Portsmouth Harbour.

The test mine was discovered during dredging work in the main shipping channel off Southsea on Sunday, the Royal Navy said.

Brittany Ferries were stopped for two hours from about 19:00 GMT while navy divers inspected the mine.

After the device was confirmed as non-viable and used for training ferries were allowed to start running again.

Several devices have been found in the harbour since dredging work started in September.

Last month, what was believed to be a German SC250 bomb containing 290lb (131kg) of explosives was found.

Dredging is being carried out to deepen and widen a four-mile (7km) channel to allow the the navy's new 65,000-tonne aircraft carriers to dock.