An 88-year-old man triggered a bomb scare and evacuation when he showed up at a French hospital and asked doctors to remove a WWI-era explosive stuck inside his rectum.
The elderly man arrived at a hospital in the southern port city of Toulon Saturday night hoping doctors could remove an artillery shell lodged in his backside, the New York Post reported, citing French-language media.
The man is thought to have inserted the shell – measured at nearly 8 inches long and more than 2 inches in diameter – into his anus for pleasure, the Post reported. Media outlets cited a photo posted on Twitter purporting to show the century-old shell.
Doctors worried the antique explosive could still be live. A hospital spokesperson told the Daily Mail that from 9 p.m. to 11:30 p.m., an “emergency” required the help of “bomb disposal personnel, the evacuation of adult and pediatric emergencies as well as the diversion of incoming emergencies.”
The bomb squad “reassured us by telling us that it was a collector’s item from the First World War, used by the French military,” the hospital stated, according to the Post.
The shell was ultimately removed through a surgery that cut into the man’s abdomen, the Post reported. He’s now in “good health” and expected to fully recover, according to the hospital.
One doctor said the incident will go down in the annals of anal history.
“An apple, a mango, or even a can of shaving foam, we are used to finding unusual objects inserted where they shouldn’t be,” they said, according to the Post. “But a shell? Never!”
But it’s not totally unprecedented, at least across the English Channel. Last year in England, a bomb squad was called to a hospital after a man arrived looking to get a WWII anti-tank shell out of his rectum, as reported by Insider.
