The risk of a ‘major explosion’ from the World War II munitions wreck SS Richard Montgomery which lies just a mile off Sheerness in Kent, is remote says the MCA.

Divers have recently completed a survey of the ‘Liberty ship’ which sank in 1944 and have found that although a hull crack has enlarged, sea-bed ‘support’ of the wreck is still good. However the wreck remains a prohibited area and will continue to be monitored.

The shell-filled hulk lies within a quarter of a mile of the main dredged shipping channel which leads oil tankers to Shellhaven refinery.