After forest fires in a French village, hundreds of World War II-era…
After forest fires in a French village, hundreds of World War II-era shells were found.
Consensus
- Forest fires occurred in the commune of Le-Porj, southern France.
- The fires led to the discovery of a storage site containing World War II-era munitions.
- The munitions included German and French mortar and anti-tank shells.
- Sappers are conducting clearance operations on a 5-hectare area.
- Residents were evacuated and cannot return until the clearance is complete.
- The fires burned for approximately ten days and destroyed 42,000 hectares of forests.
- Local authorities were unaware of the existence of underground ammunition storage facilities in the commune.
Points of divergence
- There were over 100 explosions heard during the second night of the fire, which were initially mistaken for gas cylinder explosions and may have been caused by wartime munitions detonating due to high heat. — tg_bbcrussian
Coverage (2 sources)
- After a fire in France, a World War II arsenal was discovered — Коммерсантъ
- After forest fires in French village, hundreds of World War II shells found — BBC News Русская служба