Volunteers cleaning up a canal in east London were shocked to find an unexploded grenade from the Second World War.

The event was the first of five planned over the next month to clear a huge amount of rubbish from the bed of the Regent's Canal in east London, where a one kilometre stretch has been drained.

The grenade was discovered at Salmon Lock in Mile End, the Canal & River Trust said.

Debbie Vidler, volunteer co-ordinator with the trust, said: "We often find weird and wonderful things in the bottom of canals when we drain them. We discovered numerous shopping trollies, bicycles, mobile phones and carrier bags, but we were not expecting to find a 70-year-old unexploded bomb.

"It was a bit of a shock for the volunteer who came across it but we acted quickly to alert the emergency services and police arrived within minutes to make the area safe. We're now looking forward to what else we may find with the next planned clean-ups at the site."

The annual cost to the charity of cleaning up litter from the waterways last year was just under £900,000, with spending in London the highest at more than £500,000.

The trust carries out a year-round restoration programme of works to maintain and repair the 3,219km of canals and rivers in its care.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "We had reports of a World War Two device being found. It's been taken away for disposal."

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