31 Jan 2013

WWII shell disarmed in French Polynesia

7:04 pm on 31 January 2013

An artillery shell dating back to the Second World War has been disarmed in French Polynesia after it was unwittingly used as an anvil for 30 years.

Police on Bora Bora called in military experts to neutralise the shell which weighed 25 kilogrammes and contained 12 kilogrammes of explosives.

A resident said nobody knew it was a shell as it was partly submerged under a tree and held by its roots.

Bora Bora was a base for US forces during the Pacific War.