Lethal tuber in kitchen

Press, 21 October 1986, Page 7

Lethal tuber in kitchen

NZPA-AP Ugchel, Netherlands Dea van Hemert reached into the bag for another potato and found a “pineapple” — a mudcaked World War II hand grenade in working order. “I was peeling potatoes like I do every day and was taking them one by one from the plastic bag,” Mrs van Hemert said. “At first I. didn’t know what it was, but I found out soon enough when my husband came home from work.” Potatoes are harvested by machine, sorted by size automatically and packed in plastic bags for

retail sale. “It (the grenade) was the same size and was as heavy as a normal potato,” Mrs van Hemert said, “but when I started to peel away the mud, I suddenly felt metal.” She said her son Jeroen and daughter Angelique were playing in the kitchen when she discovered the grenade and she put it aside for inspection by her husband who was due home in a few minutes. He realised the danger immediately, buried it in the garden and called the police. Army bomb experts dug

up the grenade and took it away. An Army spokesman said the grenade was in working order, but he was unable to say whether it was an Allied or German weapon.