Man dies opening grenade with sledgehammer

Reuters ^ | 08/08/06

[presidio9]

A Brazilian man died on Tuesday when he tried to open what police believe was a rocket-propelled grenade with a sledgehammer in a mechanical workshop on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.

Another man who was in the workshop at the time of the explosion was rushed to a hospital with severe burns, a police officer told Reuters. The workshop was destroyed and several cars parked outside caught fire.

Police found several unexploded army issue rocket-propelled grenades in the workshop. They believe the ammunition had been brought there by scavengers wanting to sell them as scrap metal, but they also are investigating a possible link to Rio's heavily armed drug gangs who often raid military bases.

[jdm]

Hate it when that happens.

[kjam22]

Hola Juan, tiene mi cerveza y mira esto.

[Bogtrotter52]

The all time Darwin Award winner is..........

[Uriah_lost]

He was reenacting the Bugs Bunny "ammo inspector" bit from one of the WWII era cartoons. I guess this one wasn't a DUD...

[Leatherneck_MT]

eerie

We had a situation in Camp Pendletong back in the 80's where a young Marine (armorer) had an empty LAAW Tube and a dud LAAW rocket. The Idiot was trying to "beat" the rocket back into the expended tube with a hammer and a block of wood. Had the block sitting on the nose cone. The guys who were there (equally as stupid), said he hit it 5 times and on the 5th whack it detonated.

[Calpernia]

[Doogle]

....reminds me of the critter with the sledge

Doogle

[presidio9]

I thought this was from the Onion when I read the headline.

I thought about a cute "Darwin Award" subheading, but then I decided "What can you really say about this headline that it doesn't already say itself?"

This is the sort of news that Reuters should stick to reporting.

[CertainInalienableRights]

If they frequently raid military bases for arms you would think they would learn not to open grenades with sledge hammers

I think its an issue of knowledge transfer.

Those with experience in this area have ceased the dangerous activity (along with every other activity), but have neglected to communicate the information to their peers in the scavenging industry.

What Brazil needs is some sort of scavenging regulatory agency, financed by a modest, sensible tax on scavenging, to institute protetive rules and disseminate information.

Its for the children, don't 'cha know.

[Sax]

He must've been going after the prize on the inside.

[Americanexpat]

Damn, opening explosive shells with a sledge hammer. Next they will be clearing mine fields with a basketball and a pair of snow shoes.

[Calpernia]

[traditional1]

"Sounds like a defective sledge hammer and a defective grenade".

Absolutely.......in the USA, there would be requisite warning labels (AFTER the Class Action Lawsuit), saying "caution...do not open this with a sledge-hammer" "may explode and cause personal injury"

[Calpernia]

32

[NonValueAdded]

Actually, that should be in Portuguese:

Hello Manuel, prenda minha cerveja e preste atenção a isto

[r9etb]

He was reenacting the Bugs Bunny "ammo inspector" bit from one of the WWII era cartoons. I guess this one wasn't a DUD...

I was thinking of the same cartoon....

[Doogle]

there ya go.........:)

[r9etb]

That's the one!

[relictele]

There are a lot of 'thinning the herd' stories about stupidity, but this tops them all.

Reminds me of Bugs Bunny in the WWII munitions factory.

[Oztrich Boy]

Note to self: Use something other than a sledge hammer to open unexploded military ordnance.

Oxy-cutter torch?