Magnet fishermen shocked to pull live WWII grenade from canal, sparking bomb scare
Magnet fishermen nearly had their pastime literally blow up in their faces after accidentally dredging a live grenade from a canal in Scotland.
“Nerves started kicking in,” one of the adhesive anglers, Bob, told South West News Service of the heart-pounding incident, which occurred Oct. 10 in Linlithgow.
He specializes in the ever-growing sport, in which people use magnet-tipped ropes to fish unexpected metal artifacts from bodies of water.
This particular group is known for uploading their catches — which have included old train lights, ammunition boxes and more — for their over 475,000 followers on their TikTok channel, “Magnet Fishing Edinburgh.”
The pair found their hobby was da bomb in more ways than one after accidentally hauling up a live World War II grenade while fishing from a bridge in the Union Canal.
“At first, we didn’t find anything, so we took a break to get food,” recalled Bob. “Our second throwing was when we found the grenade and realized the situation we were in.”
The nail-biting clip shows one of the magnet fishermen hauling the rusty, unexploded ordnance from the drink like a combustible ball and chain.
Despite feeling nervous over the find, the pair tried to stay calm and “make sure that everyone was secure and safe,” he said.
“There were a couple of people walking past that we advised to walk around the other path,” recalled Bob, who subsequently informed authorities of the situation.
“Once we got it, we ended up contacting the police, and they got a bomb squat out to come and take care of it,” he recalled. “The officer came over and told us, ‘We’ve got good news and bad news – the good news is you’ve saved Linlithgow, but the bad news is your magnet will be getting blown up with the grenade.'”
The bomb technicians subsequently took the grenade to a local field and detonated it at a safe distance from everyone.
In a similarly-explosive discovery in 2019, a magnet fisherman dredged a World War I era grenade from a river in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
