World War II grenade in buttocks triggers hospital alarm in Toulouse

No time? blue News summarizes for you

• A hospital in Toulouse has called the explosive ordnance disposal service because a man came to the emergency room with an artillery shell from the First World War in his rectum.
• The almost 20-centimetre-long explosive device was neutralized, reported the newspaper "La Dépêche du Midi" on Sunday.

Summary created with

According to media reports, a young man came to the emergency room of a clinic in Toulouse, France, with a German World War II grenade in his buttocks and called in the explosive ordnance disposal service. It was only after the object had been surgically removed that the doctors realized it was ammunition and alerted the explosives experts, French media reported, citing hospital staff. The 24-year-old admitted that he had inserted the projectile himself. The reasons remained unclear.

Grenade from the year 1918

The grenade was a German 37 millimetre projectile from the First World War with a length of 16 centimetres, reported France 3. The explosive ordnance disposal service initially cordoned off a security area in the hospital. However, it turned out that the projectile, which dated back to 1918, no longer posed any danger, reported the newspaper "Le Figaro", referring to the police. The newspaper was informed by the public prosecutor's office in Toulouse that investigations into the illegal possession of ammunition, which were initially under discussion, have therefore been dropped.

This is not the first case of its kind in France. In 2022, an 88-year-old man in Toulon in the south of France had to undergo surgery after an even larger bullet from the First World War was lodged in his buttocks.