Emergency services at Rangueil Hospital in Toulouse faced a complicated situation this past weekend when a 24-year-old man arrived at the hospital with a severe rectal injury, only for medical staff to discover that the cause was an eight-inch-long unexploded World War I artillery shell.
According to El País, the young man reportedly sought treatment for extreme pain but did not initially disclose the nature of the object. It was only during surgery that doctors realized the object was a nearly century-old munition, dating back to 1918. The discovery immediately raised fears of a potential explosion, forcing staff to halt the operation and evacuate parts of the hospital.
Bomb disposal experts were called in to assess the device. According to local reports, the shell was safely neutralized without incident, with fire brigade units on standby throughout the procedure. "It had not exploded, and the situation required extreme caution," a hospital insider told French media.
Authorities have launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the incident, including how the patient acquired the ordnance and why he did not inform medical staff. While French law strictly regulates the possession of explosives, the Toulouse prosecutor's office has indicated that the shell is demilitarized, and no criminal charges are expected at this stage.
Unexploded munitions from World War I remain a persistent hazard in France, where remnants of the "iron harvest" routinely surface in farmland and construction sites. While cases of such ordnance appearing in medical emergencies are rare, they are not unprecedented. Similar incidents have been reported in Toulon, France, and the UK, though this appears to be one of the most dramatic in recent memory...