Swimmers have been left alarmed after finding a burnt wetsuit on a Tynemouth beach just days after "thousands" of nails and sharp objects were littered across the sand.
A swimmer came across the wetsuit at King Edward's Bay on Tuesday morning and was shocked to find it was scorched with large burn marks. The member of the public, who had been running along the beach at the time, quickly alerted the community group, Totally Tynemouth Collective, in the hope of finding out what had happened.
Members of the group shared the image of the badly damaged wetsuit on the Facebook page and wondered whether it was anything to do with the thousands of nails and sharp objects that appeared on the beach on Sunday, June 19.
The post on the page read: "We’ve found a burnt wetsuit today. WHAT is going on?"
It comes following the launch of a police investigation into "thousands" of nails, screws, wires and batteries which were scattered across the beach on Sunday. Swimmer Mallory Smith alerted Northumbria Police to the shocking discovery and the force confirmed that "enquiries are ongoing" into the incident.
However, Northumbria Police said it has not received any reports regarding the burnt wetsuit at this time.
Mallory, 69, who is a member of the Totally Tynemouth group, said: "The burnt wetsuit was pointed out to me by another swimmer at around 10am on Tuesday. He had been running along the beach and picked it up thinking it could have been repaired, but then saw the extent of the burns.
"I left the suit on the bins. We have no idea what the story was there. Honestly, what next?"
Meanwhile, North Tyneside Council said its cleaning teams were stepping up patrols at the beach following the nails incident and urged visitors to take care.
Sam Dand, the council's director of environment, said: "We are incredibly proud of our award-winning beaches and work hard with the local community to keep them clean, safe and well-maintained. We have employed extra teams over the summer to supplement our existing environmental maintenance teams.
“Like our residents, we are shocked and appalled by this incident. We would like to thank those who spent time cleaning up the beach on Sunday morning.
"We clean the beaches every day throughout the summer months, and we also have specialist equipment to rake and sieve the sand to remove smaller pieces of debris. Our seasonal teams have been alerted to the incident and are increasing patrols in this area to help keep it safe and clean for users.”
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