Today’s award goes to a particularly idiotic WW2 souvenir hunter in Germany.
A neighbourhood in Germany had to be evacuated after World War Two-era grenades bought by a collector at a car boot sale began exploding in the early summer heat.
Authorities were called after an explosion on Monday afternoon in the town of Hennef, east of Bonn, police said on Tuesday.
They arrived to find a garage in flames, and more explosions followed after munitions bought at a flea market ignited in the warming temperatures.
They cleared a wide area around the home, shutting a stretch of railway and highway as experts were brought in. The munitions were secured and destroyed in a controlled explosion in a field.
The 51-year-old collector who bought the firearms, and is now under investigation for weapons law violations, had been at work as the explosions began.
. . .
Bild reported that the munitions collector regularly goes searching in the fields with a metal detector for old war weapons.
There’s more at the link.
Given the number of leftover munitions of all types, from both World Wars, that are found almost every day across most of Europe, this dumbass has no excuse. Anyone with half a working brain cell would have realized that it’s dangerous to collect old explosive devices! What’s more, he put his parents and neighbors at risk by his stupidity. I hope the authorities throw the proverbial book at him.
Peter
More to the point: If all one needs to secure explsives is a metal detector, how many grenades and WW1 chemical devices are in European private homes and available for future terror attacks?
Lived on Kwajalein island in the Marshall Islands in the early '70s. First thing the US Army did when you arrived was to give the newbies the 30 minute slide show of 'Welcome and This Will Kill You' lecture.
Apparently, Jap ordinance had a nasty habit of becoming more volatile over age, especially when exposed to salt water. The stuff was pretty much considered 'really bad' in the '70s. Can't imagine how much worse that stuff is now.
Still wish I could have had that case of Jap grenades I found one day (properly deactivated, of course.)
We have similar things in Spain from time to time. Call it tradition.
Take care
I worked for a company that installed video systems in military conference rooms, including CinCPac in Hawaii. When running cables behind a wall they found some ordnance still embedded in it.
when I was in Augsburg, there would usually be a flea market a few times a year where the Germans would buy up anything military that could be found. That occasionally included junk that someone had dug up out of a field somewhere. I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often.