Artillery round melted for scrap kills two (Mr. Darwin, please pick up the white courtesy phone...)

Reuters ^ | 10/17/06

[presidio9]

Two people were killed and seven seriously wounded in Uganda when an artillery round blew up as a man tried to melt it down for scrap metal, police said on Saturday.

Police cordoned off the area where the shell was found, searching for other munitions after the incident, which happened on Thursday in Amuria, a remote part of the once war-ravaged eastern Teso region.

"We understand this man picked up a shell and tried to melt it for scrap. He put it in the fire and it exploded," Francis Agwoka, acting police chief for the region, told Reuters by telephone.

"Two people were killed and seven others rushed to hospital critically injured. We are sealing off the area to look for more bombs."

The Teso region was attacked by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels in 2003, spreading a war that had hitherto affected only northern Uganda. Hundreds of thousands of civilians fled to refugee camps.

Though they were repelled by the army and local government-backed militia, aid workers say parts of Teso remain littered with mines and abandoned ammunition.

Police have warned people in Teso not to touch unfamiliar metal objects.

The Ugandan government and LRA signed a truce in August that many hope will bring an end to a 20-year insurgency that has killed tens of thousands and displaced nearly 2 million. Peace talks are under way in south Sudan.

[Thrownatbirth]

God bless Amuria!

[MplsSteve]

When I read stories like this, I'm hearing the "Dueling Banjoes" piece in the background.

[Robert A Cook PE]

OK, OK I can understand melting used scarp down for the iron.

But a "fire" WON'T ever, ever, ever melt steel.

What the H*LL was this guy thinking? He needed at least a good forge - and that would only get the iron hot enough to hammer and bend like a blacksmith uses - and even that only IF he has a very good blower or bellows - A forge STILL would not "melt" steel....

Now, 'bout that explosive effect.............

[Loud Mime]

Another bomb

[theDentist]

Never bring explosives to a campfire...

... unless you're fishing, of course.

[NRA1995]

playing in the background: "You Dropped A Bomb On Me" by the Gap Band

[presidio9]

[NRA1995]

He must have read the story below and said to himself, "I ain't stupid enough to hit dat with a sledgehammer"

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1680641/posts

[theDentist]

He blowed up Good!

[Thrownatbirth]

The VC used to hacksaw UXBs with pretty much the same effect.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Vintage Cosby: "You put a bullet in the furnace, it'll explode."

[TheKidster]

Tragic but funny. I tried this when I was a little kid. I found a .22 shell and tried to melt the lead over a candle. Luckilly GOD decided that my genetic material was still worth keeping in the gene pool and I just went deaf for half of a day instead of getting a bullet in the face. I was like 9 at the time though, this guy has no excuse.

[camle]

bump

[orionblamblam]

[antiRepublicrat]

Who has the "Hold muh beer and watch this" ping list?

[RichInOC]

WHAT HAPPEN?

[presidio9]

Who has the "Hold muh beer and watch this" ping list?

Mhking, I believe. Haven't seen him around in a while though.

[ichabod1]

Is this anywhere near that African location where the Preacher said the Lord was going to make him walk on water so he walked into the lake and drowned because he couldn't swim?

[El Gato]

He must not have removed the fuse. The explosive filler in the bomb would be unlikely to explode, it would melt and you could pour it out the same way it was poured in. (My Aunt used to work at the Cornhusker Army Ammunition Plant, doing just that, pouring molten explosive into bomb and shell casings.)