On Sunday, an army bomb squad was called to an Easter egg hunt in England when a three-year-old boy found a live hand grenade. Stuart Moffatt, aged 34, was in attendance with his wife and three children when he saw the young boy standing over an explosive from the World War II era. The event took place in Holford, Somerset. According to reports from England, Moffatt began leading young children away from the area when he saw what the boy found.
“We were beginning to count up the eggs at the end of the hunt and I saw a boy of three standing on an object,” Moffatt said in interviews. “It was brown and about 4 inches high. It looked like an Easter egg, but it was a hand grenade — I was shocked. The boy who was standing on it thought it was a rock.”
Organizers of the egg hunt were alerted of the danger by Moffatt, which led to the bomb squad being called to the field. The bomb squad had to cordon the area and close a local highway once on scene. The grenade was detonated safely by the bomb squad after everyone was moved to safer areas. The event was organized by a pre-school group and it featured close to 25 children between the ages of 2 and 5.
Paul Gibbard, who had daughters hunting for eggs in the event, said that the grenade is most likely from a shuttered military base in Holford.
“Apparently there used to be an American Army base in Holford during the Second World War,” he said. “I think it has something to do with that.”