Tuesday, 3 September 2024

Darwin Award in Poland - Kaboom



              The scene of the avoidable tragedy            

Darwin Award contendeant in Poland, metal detectorists here too are not the sharpest knives in the drawer: "Kilkanaście wybuchów w stodole. Sąsiedzi wciąż nie mogą wrócić do swoich domów" TVP2

In the village of Ryczyca near Siedlce, a fire and a dozen or so explosions occurred in a barn where hazardous materials were stored [...]. There could have been one person inside [later confirmed one man was dead and he reportedly belonged to a local metal detecting group PMB]. 32 village residents were evacuated.[...] According to junior brigadier Paweł Kulicki, press officer of the Municipal Commandant of the State Fire Service in Siedlce, firewood, explosives from the Second World War, and LPG cylinders were stored there. - When the first units arrived, explosions could be heard. The wooden barn building was on fire - he says. Firefighters conducted the operation from a distance from the beginning. - Maintaining maximum safety rules, using natural elements that could protect us from fragmentation. There were at least a dozen explosions - explains Kulicki. The building burned down, the fire was brought under control. All that remains are ashes.
The neighbours have not returned to their homes as the firemen and sappers had not yet entered the area to take care of any remaining munitions. Already, the story and comment on the need to regulate the hobby on a Polish archaeology-centred Facebook page ("Detektoryści - fakty i mity/ Detectorists Facts and Myths") has received the first of what'll be a long series of abusive and threatening comments... Detectorists are a breed apart and the same all across Europe. . .

Since, for the reason highlighted above, the possession of such WW2 "souvenirs" is forbidden by law, this was a detectorist/collector flouting that law - and it seems the neighbours knew. And the police? 


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