1.
GV Minesweepers steaming in channel (2 shots)
0.10

2.
MV Man at wheel.
0.14

3.
MV Surveyors at work compiling charts.
0.18

4.
SV Scanner.
0.21

5.
CU Buoy in water.
0.24

6.
GV AND SV Divers getting into boat and set out to survey area (4 shots)
0.56

7.
MV Divers into water (2 shots)
1.17

8.
SV Man signalling.
1.20

9.
MV AND CU Diver surfacing and helped aboard boat (3 shots)
1.38

10.
GV Underwater detonation.
1.37

11.
SV Wreckage floating on water.
1.55



Initials BB/0110 VS/1.22



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: British divers are working against the clock and the treacherous tide of the English Channel to demolish wrecks which menace shipping in the world's busiest sea lanes.

Today (Thursday) work started on the dangerous jumble of wrecks on the Varne Bank, where 51 lives have been lost in the past two months. The first object was to blast away the masts from the Greek ship Niki, which sank after hitting the submerged hulks of the Texaco Caribbean and the Brandenburg.

Meanwhile, British Navy minesweepers were at work on the French side of the Channel trying to survey a new passage for westbound shipping.