Ugandan demonstrates how not to recycle munitions

Just the header of this indicated that there is not a pretty ending…and there wasn’t.

An attempt last Saturday by a Uganda man to recycle an unexploded artillery shell ended rather badly when he ill-advisedly decided to melt it down for scrap, Reuters reports.

DUH. Of course, the result was predictable…but apparently not predictable for everyone.

Francis Agwoka, acting police chief for the “once war-ravaged eastern Teso region”, pretty well summed it up when he told the news agency: “We understand this man picked up a shell and tried to melt it for scrap. He put it in the fire and it exploded.” Agwoka added: “Two people were killed and seven others rushed to hospital critically injured. We are sealing off the area to look for more bombs.”

The regret is for those in the vicinity who were caught in the collateral damage. To quote from Larry Niven’s book Oath of Fealty: “Just think of it as evolution in action.”