CHINA – A 90-year-old woman in Baokang County (Xiangyang, Hubei) has been using a hand grenade as a pepper crusher for more than 20 years.
According to the Beijing Youth Daily and the World Journal, on the afternoon of June 23, the police in Huangbao Town, Baokang County (Xiangyang, Hubei), received a report from Mrs. Qin’s family that a grenade was found in their home.
Authorities immediately responded and dispatched professional technicians to the scene. Upon inspection, they confirmed that the object was indeed an old hand grenade with a wooden handle and a rusted body.
Mrs. Qin, now 90 years old, explained that she had accidentally found the object over 20 years ago while working in the fields. Mistaking it for a pestle, she brought it home and had been using it occasionally to crush pepper, crack walnut shells, and even hammer nails.
On June 23, while Mrs. Qin’s family was demolishing their house for reconstruction, a worker discovered that the pestle was actually a grenade. Shocked, Mrs. Qin immediately called the police.
The grenade was found to still have its detonator intact. Authorities have since confiscated the grenade.
The unusual story has garnered a lot of attention and amusement online.
“Mrs. Qin is incredibly lucky and has a long life ahead of her, having used a grenade so casually for over 20 years without any incident,” commented one netizen. Another remarked, “I wonder how powerful the explosion would have been if the grenade had detonated.”