TechDiving Nuclear Weapons

A Diver Thinks He's Found A Massive Nuke The US Military Lost Decades Ago

He was searching for sea cucumbers.
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By 

Tech reporter

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A Canadian diver searching for sea cucumbers may have stumbled upon a nuclear bomb lost by the US military during the Cold War. 

Sean Smyrichinsky was diving off the coast of British Columbia in Western Canada when he came across what he thought looked like a UFO.

After returning to shore, he told his fellow divers what he’d seen. One suggested it might be a nuke famously dropped and lost by a US bomber in 1950.

Now the Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) has revealed, after discussing coordinates with the US military, that it could indeed be the bomb.

The DND is sending a naval ship to the site to investigate the mysterious discovery, the BBC reported.

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

In 1950, an American B-36 bomber crashed near British Columbia en route to Carswell Air Force Base in Texas.

It was set to conduct a simulated nuclear strike and was carrying a real Mark IV nuclear bomb to see if the plane could handle its weight.

As it flew down Canada’s west coast, one of the plane’s engines set fire. The crew were forced to parachute to safety before the plane crash landed.

Five of the 17 person crew died in the incident. 

Before ejecting, the crew decided to drop the nuclear bomb into the sea to reduce the chances of an explosion. 

While the bomb didn’t contain any plutonium, meaning it wouldn’t cause a nuclear explosion, it was still loaded with uranium, lead and TNT. 

The whereabouts of the nuke has eluded historians and the US and Canadian militaries ever since.

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