An elderly man arrived at a hospital in Toulon, France, on Saturday with a World War I-era artillery shell in his rectum.
The 88-year-old arrived with an 7 x 3.5-inch bomb that he obtained from his brother, a police source told BFM Toulon Var. “An apple, a mango or even shaving cream … We are used to finding unusual objects where they should not be. But a shell? Never,” an emergency medical worker told the outlet.
💣🇫🇷 FLASH | Un homme de 88 ans s’est présenté avec un obus dans l’anus aux urgences de #Toulon samedi soir. L’hôpital a du être évacué partiellement.
👉 Les démineurs ont ensuite confirmé que l’engin n’était pas explosif. L’homme va bien.
— Cerfia (@CerfiaFR) December 19, 2022
The medical staff told Nice Matin that “an emergency … occurred from 9:00 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Saturday evening that required the intervention of bomb disposal personnel, the evacuation of adult and pediatric emergency wards as well as the diversion of incoming emergencies.”
Many of the hospital’s units, such as the pediatric one, were transferred to the main hall, according to Le Parisien. Some patients were redirected to other hospitals for a few hours. (RELATED: Police Arrest Suspect In Connection With Dallas Hospital Shooting That Left Two Nurses Dead: Report)
The old man was placed in a tent outside of the hospital to avoid potential risks to other patients, Le Parisien reported.
Eventually, it turned out the shell was not explosive. “They have reassured us saying that it is a military shell dating back to WWI offered to the Poilus (French soldiers in WWI)”, a health worker explained.
A surgeon then operated on the patient to retrieve the object from his abdomen, according to Le Parisien. The man is in good health and the bomb squad has taken the shell, the outlet reported.