In a new discovery in the United Kingdom, a young boy on a beach in Northern Ireland found a ‘live grenade’ from World War I that was “capable of detonating”. A young child contacted the Northern Ireland Police Service after discovering an unexploded grenade at Cultra Beach in County Down. Soon after arriving at the site, an Army technical officer verified the live explosive as a “Mills Bomb Hand Grenade”. The live World War I bomb was later moved to Crawfordsburn Country Park, where it was detonated under controlled conditions.
Police later described the entire incident on the Police Orders and North Down Facebook page. “A young boy was on the beach in Cultra when he saw it was a grenade. Contacted the police, he remained and could tell us where he was. We contacted the ATO… confirmed that It was a World War I “Mills Bomb” hand grenade. We accompanied the ATO to Crawfordsburn Country Park where a controlled detonation was carried out.
In addition, the police expressed their gratitude to the youth who discovered the grenade and contacted the police, as well as thanked all those involved in the process.
WWI and WWII unexploded bombs are still discovered from time to time
According to independent reports, the Mills Bomb Grenade, manufactured in the year 1915, was the first large-scale hand grenade deployed in the United Kingdom. Unexploded bombs from WWI and WWII are still discovered from time to time, despite being rare.
Earlier in 2020, a grenade from WWI was discovered on a beach in the UK, Fox News reported. According to the British news agency SWNS, the bomb was found on a beach in Culver Cliffs in north Somerset. This further confirmed that the bomb did not contain any explosives when a bystander discovered it and it was disposed of appropriately.
As the Independent reports, another suspected unexploded WWII bomb was discovered in 2020 in Soho in the City of London, while a 7ft German bomb exploded off the coast of the Isle of Wight in 2019.
(Image: Facebook/PoliceArds and North Down)
