Kenneth Glad
Sections of a major hospital in southern France were cleared in the early hours of Sunday as emergency services responded to a suspected explosives risk.
Police sealed off parts of the site while specialist teams assessed the situation, prompting patient diversions and heightened security.
Emergency officials in Toulouse said the evacuation at Rangueil Hospital began shortly before dawn. Bomb disposal officers, firefighters and police were deployed under standard safety protocols used when suspected ordnance is involved.
Hospitals treat such alerts with particular caution. Even ageing munitions can remain volatile, and authorities aim to eliminate any risk in densely populated clinical settings before resuming care.
Only later did officials explain what had set the response in motion.
Operating room shock
French police told local media, according to 20 Minutes France, that the incident stemmed from a 24 year old male patient who arrived late on Saturday complaining of acute pain. Surgeons moved quickly to investigate the cause.
During surgery, doctors discovered and removed a First World War-era artillery shell lodged internally. Rather than unfolding step by step, the medical and security response converged: Once the object was identified as military ordnance, explosives specialists were summoned immediately.
Once bomb disposal officers were present, the device was stabilised and taken away under controlled conditions, allowing hospital staff to resume normal procedures.
A police source explained the significance of the discovery, saying: “At the time of the extraction, the surgeon realized that it was a shell of the First World War, about 16 centimetres long and 4cm wide.”
Authorities said the patient was in a stable condition after the operation and remained under medical supervision.
Lingering battlefield legacy
Thousands of unexploded shells from the First World War are still recovered each year, particularly in areas that once lay near front lines. Construction work and heavy rain frequently bring buried munitions to the surface.
While these finds are familiar to emergency services, officials stressed that discovering such an object inside a hospital patient is exceptionally rare.
The Toulouse evacuation fits into a broader pattern of emergency preparedness incidents involving historic ordnance.
In 2022, a suspected war relic brought into Hospital Sainte Musse in Toulon by an 88 year old man led to a partial evacuation.
At that time, a spokesperson said: “An emergency occurred from 9pm to 11.30pm on Saturday evening that required the intervention of bomb disposal personnel, the evacuation of adult and paediatric emergencies as well as the diversion of incoming emergencies.”
The elderly man maintained that it was a war memorabilia.
Sources: 20 Minutes France
