A sunken warship which could cause "massive loss of life" after 1,400 tonnes of explosives were found on board, has been discovered in the River Thames.
The Royal Navy has been called in to dismantle SS Richard Montgomery after fears the explosives are unstable and could cause huge damage if they were disturbed.
Bomb disposal experts trained in underwater demolitions have been tasked with making the ship safe.
The latest survey of the SS Richard Montgomery revealed any further deterioration could “trigger the unexploded ordnance”.
The Ministry of Defence is also concerned by the closeness of the oil and gas facilities at nearby at Sheerness could be under threat.
The report says if the explosives went off “it would throw a 300m wide column of water and debris nearly 3,000m into the air and generate a wave 5m high”, the Daily Telegraph reports.
A Department for Transport survey found the ship has three masts and they are all in a poor state and are deteriorating.
The MoD has warned that if one or all of the ship’s masts collapse the explosives could detonate.
An MoD document outlines a worst-case scenario in which: “The masts collapse or the operation to remove them causes them to do so causing an explosion impacting the local area including the nearby oil and gas facilities in Sheerness leading to mass damage and potential loss of life”.
Work to clear the site is due to start in June and should last around two months.
The SS Richard Montgomery was a US Liberty Ship of 7,146 gross tonnes, built in 1943 by the St John’s River Shipbuilding Company of Jacksonville, Florida.
The Second World War munitions ship was wrecked on the Nore sandbank in the Thames Estuary, near Sheerness, in August 1944.
The wreck is now under 24-hour radar surveillance until the work to make it safe is completed.
