More than 300 homes are being evacuated after a suspected 250lb World War Two bomb was discovered near Falmouth Docks.
The suspected American air-dropped device was found in the sea on Monday, sparking a major emergency response.
A 490ft cordon was initially thrown up around the site before being extended to 985ft later that day.
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It remained in place throughout Tuesday before Cornwall Council announced the exclusion zone would be dramatically increased again to 2,480ft.
An estimated 339 households are now set to be evacuated, as reported by Need To Know.
Superintendent Ian Thompson, from Devon and Cornwall Police, urged everyone within the cordon to leave their homes by 9am today (Wednesday 23 September).
He said: “If you live within the cordon area, you are strongly urged to leave your home by 9am.
“The size of the cordon is determined by advice from military bomb disposal experts.
“An evacuation of this area is essential so these specialists can proceed safely with the next stage of their work.”
Royal Navy bomb disposal experts from HMNB Devonport are working at the scene.
Lt Cdr Ben Brown, commanding officer of the Royal Navy’s Bravo Squadron bomb disposal team, said: “It’s 250lbs, an American general purpose bomb of the World War Two era.
“This could have come from any number of sources.
“It could have been an American bomber that’s come back from a mission, not successfully executed that, not dropped its payload and it needed to get rid of the bombs before it landed.
“It could have been an emergency and it needed to just ditch.
“You could put the same bomb in a slightly different location, on a different day, with different weather conditions, and have a completely different response required.”
He added: “This is on the larger side of ordnance that we would deal with, but the Plymouth team in particular have dealt with a lot of these recently, certainly this year to date, but it’s on the slightly larger side.”
A Royal Navy spokesperson said: “Royal Navy bomb disposal experts from HMNB Devonport continue to support Devon and Cornwall Police following the discovery of an unexploded World War Two American air-dropped bomb near Falmouth Docks.
“Bravo Squadron’s vital role is to keep UK waters safe and free from unexploded wartime ordnance.
“With some of the most advanced equipment available, these highly trained Royal Navy divers work in challenging conditions to protect the public and keep our waters safe.”
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