Family's shock after WW2 grenade found on beach explodes in their sink
A mother and daughter have had a lucky escape after a World War II grenade they found on a beach exploded in their kitchen sink.
Jodie Crews, 38, and her eight-year-old daughter Isabella discovered the wartime device on Sandown beach in Kent and thought it was a fossil or old bone.
But after poking it in the dining room of their home in Deal, Kent, the object burst into flames, prompting Crews to quickly rush to the kitchen with it and throw it into the sink.
Once her daughter was safely outside, Crews ran upstairs to evacuate her cats and dogs, while a neighbour called the fire brigade.
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The grenade eventually burnt itself out but not before it destroyed the sink, melted part of the window sill and filled the house with smoke.
"It just turned into a fireball,” said Crews.
“My daughter screamed and ran out the back door. I grabbed the grenade and ran with it at arm’s length into the kitchen where I hurled it into the sink.
"We just went into survival mode. I then rushed upstairs to soak a towel to throw over it to put it out. The adrenaline must have kicked in and taken over.
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"My first thought was to save my daughter, house, cats and dogs. With my daughter safely in the garden I ran back upstairs to get the cats – we have four three-week-old kittens – and rounded up our two dogs, Teegan, a border collie, and Lulu, a Pomeranian."
Crews had posted images of the object on archaeology sites and said she received lots of replies but no one suggested it could be a grenade.
"One woman thought it looked like whale vomit and said I could find out by poking it with a hot pin,” she said. “She said a puff of white smoke would come out.”
However, poking the grenade only set it alight.
"As soon as I put the pin in, the casing seemed to melt a bit and then the whole thing turned into a fireball. We were unbelievably lucky.
“It could have been a hundred times worse. All my friends have made me promise not to pick anything up from the beach again."
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Crews, who works for Kent County Council with adults with learning difficulties, said: "I have been told not to drink out of the taps as some of the chemicals from the grenade might have gone up them.
“It was a fireman who said it was a grenade. He said it was normally covered in a protective coating of wax.
Crews and her daughter found the grenade on pebbles at the beach while walking their dogs.
"It had strange ridges and looked more like a piece of bone,” she said. “It wasn't very heavy and weighed the same as a bag of sugar. I thought it might be an old knee joint. It didn't feel metallic at all."
Crews said: “My daughter was incredibly brave and did all the right things. She ran to safety and called for help. I am very proud of her.
"Isabella had been asking for a metal detector for Christmas. I think she might end up with a Nintendo Switch instead after this incident. It will be safer."
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