January 1, 88-Year-Old Unwittingly Sparks Bomb Scare

A French hospital was partially evacuated after a senior citizen with a unique ailment sparked a “bomb scare.”

The incident occurred when an 88-year-old man went to the Hospital Sainte Musse in Toulon to have a World War I artillery shell removed from his rectum.

“An emergency occurred from 9 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. on Saturday evening that required the intervention of bomb disposal personnel, the evacuation of adult and pediatric emergencies as well as the diversion of incoming emergencies,” a hospital spokesperson said.

“We had to manage the risk in a reactive framework,” the spokesperson added. “When in doubt, we took all the precautions.”

Explosives removal experts were called to the scene, and they determined that it was improbable that the shell would explode inside of the patient.

“They reassured us by telling us that it was a collector’s item from the First World War, used by the French military,” the hospital said.

Doctors then began the process of removing the foreign object from the man’s rectum.

“An apple, a mango, or even a can of shaving foam, we are used to finding unusual objects inserted where they shouldn’t be,” one doctor reportedly said. “But a shell? Never!”

The object, which measured nearly 8 inches long and more than 2 inches wide, was surgically removed from the man.

The hospital said the patient is in “good health” and expected to make a full recovery.

Source: New York Post