In Calvados, a walker was seriously burned after picking up what he thought was a stone on the beach. It was actually scrap phosphorus from World War II.
Watch out for objects lying around on the landing beaches. In Saint-Côme-de-Fresné, near Arromanches-les-Bains in Calvados, a man had the bitter experience of it on November 1st. In fact, the latter was badly burned after picking up phosphorus which he had first mistaken for a rare stone.
As reported by our colleagues from Paris-Normandy, the unfortunate was walking on the beach of Saint-Côme-de-Fresné with his wife, when he saw a pink stone which caught his eye. After retrieving it, he decided to rinse it off and then put it in his jacket pocket. But after a few steps strong heat emanated from this pocket.
Her clothes started to catch fire
The man then noticed that smoke was starting to come out of his jacket, and quickly realized that it came from the famous “stone”. So he decided to plunge his hand into the pocket to retrieve it, but got burned. His pants and jacket then began to ignite, and the man just had time to remove the latter. He finally got away with it.‘significant finger and thigh injuries.
What the man took for a pebble was actually a debris of white phosphorus, probably from a bomb used during the Landing of World War II. This substance is dangerous because it has the particularity of ignite when dry, on contact with air. The stone recovered from the sea water therefore quickly dried on contact with the air and ignited by friction with the pebbles in its pocket.
This kind of misadventure is quite rare but it is not exceptional. In 2019, a child suffered minor burns to his hands and thighs after picking up an incendiary device he mistook for a red rock. It was a phosphorus bomb used by the Americans during World War II. In order to prevent this type of incident from happening again, the man who burned himself on November 1 appealed for caution on his Facebook account.
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Beach
As reported by our colleagues from Paris-Normandy, a man was walking on the beach with his wife, when he saw a pink stone which caught his attention. After retrieving it, he decided to rinse it off and put it in his jacket pocket.
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Burn
But after a few steps, a strong heat emanated from this pocket. The man then noticed that smoke was starting to come out of his jacket, and quickly understood that it came from the famous “stone”
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Burn
His pants and jacket then started to ignite, and the man barely had time to take it off. He eventually escaped with major injuries to his fingers and thigh.
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Phosphorus
What the man took for a pebble was actually white phosphorus debris, probably from a bomb used during the D-Day landings in World War II. This substance is dangerous because it has the particularity of igniting when it is dry, in contact with air.