BOMB disposal experts were scrambled after an unexploded tank shell was discovered on the moors.

The alert was sparked after a group from Woodhead Mountain Rescue Team stumbled across the potentially deadly highly-explosive device in a remote area south of their Hade Edge base.

The 12-strong team made the find while they were out on a training run in the Peak District above Langsett yesterday afternoon.

Members of the team with experience of explosives decided the device had the potential to be dangerous and called the police.

South Yorkshire Police used their helicopter to transport an officer to the scene while an army bomb disposal team raced to the scene in vehicles.

Mountain rescue incident controller, Mike France, said while the area was several miles from civilisation it had been cordoned off as the shell was discovered only 50m from a path used by keen walkers.

Speaking yesterday as the incident was unfolding, he said: “We get these every time it rains heavily as it washes everything out.