A stretch of the river bank in Athlone was cordoned off for two and a half hours on Wednesday evening (June 25 ) after the discovery of two grenades in the water near the Jolly Mariner marina.
Members of the Athlone Sub Aqua Club discovered two metal objects in the river a few hundred metres north of their clubhouse at Brick Island, Coosan Road while on a regular training exercise at around 8.30pm.
According to club chairman, Mr Brian Duffy, experienced divers amongst the group suspected the objects were “very old grenades”.
“Obviously, the appropriate authorities had to be contacted swiftly to deal with the matter,” he said, as the club put an emergency plan for such situations into practice.
Gardai were notified at around 8.40pm and cordoned off a small area around the clubhouse.
The Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit (EOD ) was dispatched from Custume Barracks at 10.40pm, according to Comdt Rory McCorley, and was back in barracks with the two items within 20 minutes.
Comdt McCorley confirmed they were two Mills bombs, a type of grenade used in the War of Independence which were disposed of in a controlled fashion by the EOD on Thursday morning.
“They were dealt with as routine. It is not uncommon to find these,” he said.
He reminded the public that if they found anything dangerous they should contact the Gardai immediately.
“If it looks dangerous then it probably is,” he added, before repeating the often advertised statement that the Army does not pay rewards for anything found by the public on its lands.
This is not the first time such a discovery has been made in this stretch of the river as it has been used for target practice for the garrison for over 300 years.
In 2006, a man was convicted in the District Court for trying to sell a 1691 cannonball he found in the same beat of the river.
A spokesman for the sub aqua club said: “The discovery brought a different and exciting end to the club’s Wednesday night training session”.
