The bomb discovered at Ghent’s Sint-Pieters Station that heavily disrupted rail services this morning is a mortar-shell dating from the Great War. The device was discovered during planned digging.
The shell measuring 60 centimetres in length was used by the German artillery during the First World War. It contained explosives but no detonation device.
The find discovered by workmen involved in digging work outside Gent-Sint-Pieters Station must have given them quite a fright. Jacques Callebaut of the army bomb squad explains that in official parlance the device isn’t a bomb: “This is artillery ammunition from the Great War. It’s German!”
“It’s quite a big specimen and could contain up to 15 kilos of explosives. This one didn’t contain a detonator making it less dangerous. We were easily able to disarm it and allow rail services to resume”.
Shells like these were used during the war to destroy important infrastructure. Shells were often buried under bridges or at airports so that they could be exploded when the enemy approached.
“There’s always a chance a device like this will be encountered while digging. Some shells are still equipped with explosives. Others are unexploded shells that need to be carefully dismantled” says Callebaut.
“We advise members of the public who encounter a shell or any other device not to panic. Leave it be. Alert the police and then we’ll come running. Every year we receive around 3,500 calls about ammunition that needs to be collected. That’s ten calls a day. We stand ready around the clock, 24/7”.