WWI grenade found in potato sack in chip factory

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WWI grenade found in potato sack in chip factory

Factory workers in a Hong Kong potato chip plant recently uncovered a German hand grenade from World War I that had not detonated. The grenade was most likely shipped from France with other potatoes. Because the grenade was a camouflage of mud and soil, it was likely buried on a WWI battlefield that eventually became a potato farm.

Now that's a chip with a crunch.

Factory workers in a Hong Kong potato chip plant recently uncovered a German hand grenade from World War I that had not detonated, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

The grenade, which was found at the Calbee Four Seas Company factory, weighed approximately 2 pounds and "was in an unstable condition because it has been previously discharged but failed to detonate," Superintendent Wilfred Wong Ho-hon told AFP.

WORLD WAR I GERMAN SUBMARINE UNEARTHED IN NORTHERN FRANCE

Wong added that, "[a]ll the information to date suggested that the grenade was imported from France together with the other potatoes."

Because the grenade was a camouflage of mud and soil, it was likely buried on a WWI battlefield that eventually became a potato farm, the AFP added.

Since it was in an "unstable condition," the Hong Kong Police Explosive Ordnance Disposal Bureau detonated the grenade, not before securing the area so it would not result in any harm.

The grenade was placed in a hole in the road and detonated thanks to a high-pressure water jet, LiveScience reported.

"Exclusive! We detonated a German made WW1 hand grenade earlier this afternoon," the Hong Kong Police wrote in a tweet, accompanied by a video of the grenade exploding.

Historians and researchers are still finding remnants of WWI, 100 years after the war ended. Last month, researchers found the remains of a German submarine from WWI washed up on the shore in northern France.

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A diary that documented the horrors of life in the trenches of World War I went up for auction in the U.K. this past April, giving details of some the most famous battles of WWI including the Somme, Passchendaele, Cambrai and the fifth Battle of Ypres.

More than 17 million people, military and civilian, lost their lives in World War I. The U.S, which entered the war on April 6, 1917, lost more than 116,000 service members in the conflict.

Fox News' James Rogers contributed to this report.