Authorities are considering taking legal action against the 24-year-old man as it is illegal to possess and handle category A ammunition.
A hospital in the south of France was partially evacuated over the weekend after a patient was admitted to the emergency room with a First World War artillery shell lodged in his rectum, which led to the intervention of bomb disposal experts.
The incident occurred on Saturday night at the Rangueil University Hospital in Toulouse, when a 24-year-old man was admitted to the emergency unit with severe abdominal and rectal pain. The medical team found that the patient had inserted a large object into his rectum and needed urgent surgical intervention, according to the local newspaper.
During emergency surgery, doctors discovered the object was a 1918 artillery shellapproximately 20 centimeters long and more than 2.5 centimeters in diameter. Given the potential risk posed by unexploded ammunition, hospital authorities immediately alerted the police, bomb disposal team and firefighters.
As a precautionary measure, parts of the hospital were evacuated and a security perimeter was established around the building while experts assessed the risk. Bomb disposal experts later determined that the projectile did not pose an immediate danger and safely removed him from the premises. The patient remained hospitalized after surgery to recover.
Authorities have not disclosed how the old ammunition came into the man’s hands. nor how it ended up inside your body. French media cited unnamed sources suggesting the incident may have been linked to reckless pranking at a party or sexual activity. The regional newspaper states that Toulouse’s medical team has experience in treating injuries related to alleged sexual games.
The man, a French citizen, is expected to be questioned by the police in the coming days. According to reports, prosecutors are considering possible legal measuresas the possession and handling of “category A ammunition”, which includes explosives for military use, is illegal under French law.
Artillery shells like the one recovered at the hospital were widely used during the First World War, mainly by the Imperial German Army on the Western Front between 1914 and 1918. Hundreds of thousands of unexploded shells remain buried in parts of France and Belgiumoccasionally being discovered during construction work, agricultural activities or archaeological excavations.
These discoveries are part of what is known as the “Iron Harvest“, the ongoing recovery of unexploded ordnance from two world wars. Although these munitions are often found in fields and construction sites, their appearance in hospital settings is rare.
