HAMPSHIRE villagers could find themselves spending an extra day away from their homes as experts work on dealing with a live explosive at the former HMS Daedalus airfield at Lee-on-the-Solent.

The massive mine clearance operation was due to move into its second phase today.

Army experts will have to work slowly as the mine due to be removed is known to contain explosives.

They will not know until 4pm today whether an excavation will be needed tomorrow. Residents will be able to return to their homes after each day but will be asked to leave by 9am the following morning if another excavation is required.

State of the art remote controlled equipment will be used to excavate the Second World War mine.

Twenty mines are being removed in one of the biggest mine clearance operations ever seen in the county.

Up to 3,000 residents could be evacuated in a military operation which is being stretched over five weeks.

It began last Monday when a 750-metre exclusion zone was thrown around the former airfield. Evacuation centres were set up but residents were allowed to remain in their homes as long as they stayed indoors all day.

A Hampshire County Council spokeswoman said: "There is a reasonably high possibility that evacuations and road closures will have to continue on Tuesday depending on progress."

At one time there were 265 pipe mines on the airfield packed with a total of 2,400lb of gelignite.

The mines were planted in the early 1940s so the airfield would be unusable if there was a German invasion.

State of the art detection equipment has revealed that 20 mines are still buried in five areas of the airfield.