Central Province, Kenya Kenyan police responded to settle a dispute between villagers in central Kenya over whether an object they found was an overgrown root vegetable or ordnance. The verdict was reached once Police arrived and identified the item as a mortar.
Port Talbot, south Wales Friends 'mudlarking' (the process of looking through earth - most typically river mud - for items of value that have been washed up or buried) in the Afan Forest made an explosive discovery when found a UXO item.
The 27-year-old woman described the incident to reporters, "There is a part of the land that has been excavated so I thought there might be some old bottles or something in there. I was looking over the edge when I spotted it. It had white rust on it which is galvanized steel. I was walking towards my partner sort of saying 'look what I've found' when I realized what it was."
She went on to say, when the two suspected that it may be ordnance, the pair informed South Wales Police. The police contacted the bomb squad and experts detonated the device on nearby forestery land.
Auckland, New Zealand Potato screening at a New Zealand chip factory led to a bomb squad response after night shift worker Richard Teurukura noticed a strange-looking potato on the conveyor belt. Upon further examination, the suspicious spud turned out to be a grenade.
Trefriw, North Wales Rental cottage owner Dave Dew is thankful to be rid of one uninvited guest. He was shocked to find a WWII munition in the garden while preparing to build a summerhouse.
Dew frequently finds scrap metal on the property, which was once a blacksmiths, but this was a first. He scraped his spade against something metallic between old tree stumps and immediately called police once he saw what it was.
He also sent a picture of the suspect item which was forwarded to an Army EOD Unit. Two soldiers from Chester responded.
Dew said, "After looking at it, they asked me if I wanted the good news or the bad news first. The good news was that it hadn't gone off, the bad was that it was still live. But was not thought to be life-threatening, which is why no evacuation was ordered."
Nantucket, Massachusetts a resident removing a tree stump was shocked to uncover an ordnance item. The resident called the police who responded with the local fire station. A Massachusetts State Police bomb squad responded to safely transport and dispose of the item.
Rich Hill, Missouri An employee looking for tools in a Missouri city-owned building discovered a live military-grade mortar round which, according to reports from Bates County Sheriff's Office, had first been discovered about a year ago. At the time, the UXO was placed on a shelf and forgotten.
According to a Facebook post from the sheriff's office, sheriff deputies and the Rich Hill Police Department were first to respond to the building after reports of the discovery. The Lee's Summit Bomb Squad then reported the find to the Kansas City Bomb Squad, which then notified EOD based at Fort Riley, Kansas.
An update from the sheriff's office reported that the U.S. Army Bomb Squad detonated the mortar in a controlled explosion. The update reassured residents in the area, who may have heard a "large explosion," that "everything is ok."
Lake Victoria, Uganda Fishermen using cast nests from their boat fresh water lake thought they had caught the catch of their lifetime when the nets became heavy to raise. The men put down their paddles and worked together to bring the catch in.
However, instead of a load of fish, the men had raised a rusty metal box. Upon opening the box, the men got the shock of their lives when they found six 60mm mortar rounds inside.
Exter, United Kingdom Homeowners were shocked when their contractor working on an extension to their home reported finding a munition during excavations. Police initially responded to incident before they called the Royal Navy EOD for technical support. EOD responded after the homeowners and construction crew were evacuated. EOD identified the item as an incendiary round before safely transporting the item for proper off-site disposal.
Knoxville, TN A report of a military munition in a residential shed led to a multi-agency response including members of Fort Campbell EOD, the local FBI office and local police which followed standard protocol for that jurisdiction.
While the device was being X-rayed and evaluated, authorities requested that 20 homes within a 300-foot radius of the find be contacted directly by the 9-1-1 center and let them know they may be asked to leave their homes for a brief time later in the night.
East Lothian, Scotland Staff at Archerfield Links golf club were conducting routine maintenance around the prestigious course when they discovered a small, suspicious device buried underground. The round metal object, about the size of a tennis ball, with arm and aerofoil on the end, was believed to be a WWII training device.
Police and the Ministry of Defence were contacted, along with East Lothian Council. A spokesman for Police Scotland said, "East Lothian Council attended with sandbags to assist with the operation. A dig of the area was implemented and 60 pieces of ordnance were dug up, 30 being practice rounds and 30 being live. A number of controlled explosions were carried out on the beach."
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