Picture: Jodie Crews
A mum and her eight-year-old daughter had a narrow escape after taking home a WWII hand grenade they found on the beach.
Jodie Crews and daughter Isabella picked up the 80-year-old ordnance at Sandown at Deal in Kent.
At first, they thought it was a fossil.
Jodie posted pictures online asking if anyone could identify the object.
Picture: Jodie Crews
She said:
“I had lots of replies, but no one suggested it could be a grenade.
“One woman thought it looked like whale vomit.
“She said I could find out by poking it with a hot pin.
“She said a puff of white smoke would come out.”
Suddenly, while researching the find in the living room it burst into flames.
Jodie said:
“It just turned into a fireball.
“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 adrenalin must have kicked in and taken over.”
A neighbour called the fire brigade who later said the object was a grenade.
It had probably been exposed by recent high tides and storms.
Jodie said: “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.’
