A missile found in waters off Akamas and alarmed authorities was found to be old, rusty and unusable, police said on Thursday.

Divers had found the missile 100m from the shore deep underwater on Wednesday and notified police at around 1:45pm.

The scene was cordoned off and a coast guard vessel remained on site to patrol the area and prevent citizens from approaching, until the demolitions expert came to assess the missile.

On Thursday, the expert dove underwater to examine the missile where he identified it to be around half a metre long.

It was described as very old, rusty and unusable.