Family finds unexploded mortar shell in house in Turkey’s Balıkesir

BALIKESİR

A family found an unexploded mortar shell in their house premises during an ongoing construction work in the western province of Balıkesir on June 11, state-run Anadolu Agency has reported.

They found the mortar shell when the tenant family, who had recently moved into the house in the Vehbibey neighborhood, was undertaking maintenance work in the coal bunker in their garden. It was then a family member, identified as Deniz S., saw the unexploded mortar shell fall off from the roof of the bunker. 

Deniz S. then called in the police who appeared at the house premises with bomb squad teams. Following an extensive search with bomb sniffers, the mortar shell was seized to be annihilated. 

“Fortunately, the mortar shell was taken by the police without a negative incident having occurred,” Deniz S. said, adding that they had just learned the previous tenant of the house was an antiques dealer.
 
“I called the previous resident of the house. And the person I talked to on the phone told me their spouse was an antiques dealer and he might have placed the unexploded mortar shell there,” Deniz S. added.