Cornwall Fire & Rescue Service Newsdesk

Polridmouth Beach, Fowey Area at 13/01/2009 16:50

Crews from Fowey and St. Austell attended this incident which involved chemicals that had washed ashore. Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus used gauntlets to place the chemicals above the high water line in a chemical overdrum. The chemicals will be recovered by the military and disposed of.

The following is a BBC News Release issued regarding the chemicals:

Fears over beached chemical kits

People walking along beaches in south Devon are being asked to keep an eye out for chemical agent detector kits which may have washed up on the shore.

Brixham Coastguards made the appeal after several dark green plastic kits were found outside Fowey in Cornwall.

The kits are used by the military to detect poisonous gasses and contain sealed bottles of mercury cyanide and sodium hydroxide.

It is not known where they came from or how they ended up in the sea.

The kits have a Nato serial number on them. Anyone who spots one should contact the coastguards immediately and should not touch them.