Hospital evacuated after 8-inch WWI artillery shell discovered in patient’s butt
A hospital in Toulouse, France, was evacuated after a 24-year-old man arrived with an unexpected and explosive problem: a live World War I artillery shell lodged in his rectum.
The patient was rushed to the Rangueil Accident and Emergency unit late Saturday night, reportedly in “extreme discomfort” after inserting a large object, according to an insider cited by the Daily Mail. Surgeons performing emergency surgery were stunned to discover the source of his pain — an eight-inch live shell dating back to 1918, the Sun reported.
Fearing a potential explosion, hospital staff called in the bomb squad and fire brigade, evacuating the building and establishing a security perimeter while the situation was assessed. Fortunately, the shell, which was over an inch wide and still pointed, was not considered an immediate threat.
Bomb disposal experts removed the munition safely, while the patient, a French national, remained in the hospital recovering from surgery. Authorities are investigating how the century-old shell ended up inside him, though some speculate it may have been part of a party stunt gone wrong.
According to France’s La Dépêche, Toulouse medical staff are “accustomed to treating victims injured during sexual games.” The patient is expected to be interviewed by authorities later this week, and prosecutors are reportedly considering legal action for handling “category A munitions,” an officer said.
The artillery shell, used by the Imperial German Army during World War I, is similar to many munitions still found in France today during the so-called “Iron Harvest,” when unexploded ordnance is unearthed from farmland, construction sites, and other disturbed land.
This incident is not the first of its kind: in 2022, Toulon’s Hospital Sainte Musse was partially evacuated after an 88-year-old arrived with a World War I shell lodged in his anus.
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