Pipe Bombs, Mortar Shell Found In Chattahoochee River

VININGS, GA — Jeremy Sides, 41, of Acworth has been diving around Georgia for the last two years.

While he's found several relics in Georgia's waters in the last two years — including Civil War items, guns and bags of jewelry, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution — he came across rather alarming discoveries in the last several weeks.

Sides — who runs a YouTube channel documenting his dives — was diving with friends in the Chattahoochee River off West Paces Ferry Road about two weeks ago, when he found a mortar shell and what appeared to be a pipe bomb in the water, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.

"A steel tube capped on both ends and I shook it and sounded like something dry was inside," Sides told Fox 5 Atlanta.

As soon as he and his friends got out of the water, they called 911. Homeland Security, park rangers and local police officers showed up, blocked off the area and took the mortar shell and pipe bomb for disposal, the AJC reported.

Britain Lockhart, who also runs a YouTube channel documenting his dives, was with Sides during this dive. Lockhart said the bomb squad told them to exercise caution in the future, because the mortar could've still been active.

Sides went back to the same spot on the Chattahoochee last Sunday — and found two more pipe bombs in the water.

“I immediately knew what these were, so I was a different person. I was a little more nervous, and just wanted to put these down and call somebody,” he told the AJC.

Bomb disposal teams showed up again to pick up the pipe bombs and load them into disposal trucks. The mortar shell that Sides found the first time may have been from World War II, Fox 5 Atlanta reported.

You can view videos of the dives on Sides' and Lockhart's YouTube channels: Exploring with Nug and Georgia River Boys.