The operations of the divers of the Diving Operations Group (GOS) in service at the SDAI Nucleus (Demining Defense of Insidious Vehicles) in Augusta, located at the base of the Maritime Command Sicily (MARISICILIA). The specialists in the clearance of ordnance operations at sea were activated at the beginning of the week by the prefecture of Messina following a report by a local diver who reported an object, attributable to an explosive device, about 120 cm long and 30 in diameter cm, lying 20 meters deep on the south side of the Scoglio di Patti.
The reclamation operations began with the search and recognition phase of the bomb which turned out to be a 500 lb American aircraft bomb of the AN-M 64 type; the remnant of the war, cleaned of limestone deposits, appeared perfectly preserved despite having been lying on the seabed for about 75 years, where it was launched by an American bomber during the Second World War.
The bomb was initially placed in a safe area awaiting favorable marine weather conditions and subsequently towed to an area about 3 miles from the coast, with a depth of about 300 meters, in order to carry out its destruction by blasting through the application of a counter-charge, applying all the precautions for the protection of the marine environment. The escort and surveillance operations were carried out by the personnel of the Port Authority of Milazzo and of the Delegation of the beach of Patti (Me) on board the 800 class patrol boats.
Considering that the apparently harmless remnants of the war maintain the characteristics of the explosives contained unaltered despite the years and the place in which they are found, resulting therefore very dangerous, the Navy divers recommend to anyone who should come across artifacts, with shapes similar to a bomb explosive or parts of it, not to touch them at all and immediately report their discovery to the local Harbor Master's Office or to the Carabinieri station.
