Toulouse Hospital Evacuated After WWI Shell Found in Patient

A 24-year-old French man prompted the evacuation of a major hospital in Toulouse after arriving at the emergency department late on a Saturday night with a live World War I artillery shell lodged in his rectum, authorities confirmed.

The incident unfolded at Rangueil Hospital in southwest France, where the patient sought treatment for severe abdominal pain. Medical staff conducted emergency surgery and discovered the object: an eight-inch, pointed shell dating to 1918, used by the Imperial German Army during the final year of the war. The man, who has not been publicly identified, admitted to hospital personnel that he had inserted the item himself, according to reports from local officials and emergency services.

Fearing the shell could detonate, hospital administrators alerted bomb disposal experts and the fire brigade. Patients and staff were evacuated from the facility, and a security perimeter was established around the accident and emergency unit. Explosives specialists examined the 37mm brass-and-copper munition, which measured about 20 centimeters long and just over an inch in circumference. After assessment, the device was declared safe and removed from the premises by...