Marine engineers have been invited by the UK Government to bid for the job of cutting the masts off from the dangerous shipwreck SS Richard Montgomery - still loaded with around 1,400 tonnes of explosives - and lying partially submerged in the Thames Estuary off of Kent.

The American Second World War munitions vessel ran aground and broke in two on a sandbank 1.5 miles north of Sheerness on August 20, 1944. The three masts remain visible above the waterline at all states of tide and the wreck lies only meters away from the busy Medway shipping channel.

The original estimate for the work issue in January was up to £5 million, but local MP Gordon Henderson has now been informed that the figure has been re-estimated, with the Government willing to pay between £100,000 to £4 million for the right contractor, which they hope to appoint by November.

Footage filmed on 8 July.