Man is left fighting for life after petanque ball EXPLODES when it is left near a fire
A Dutch man has been left fighting for his life after a petanque ball exploded when it was left near a fire pit.
The man was part of a 14-person bachelor party in the Belgian region of Walloon Stavelot, and had been enjoying some drinks when the boule exploded.
It is understood that the young man suffered severe shrapnel wounds to the head in the incident at a holiday home near the Amblève river on Saturday night.
While the exact circumstances are still being investigated, initial reports said the petanque ball was either in or under a fire pit when it exploded due to the heat.
According to the police, the effect was comparable to the explosion of a grenade, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported today.
A Dutch man has been left fighting for his life by an exploding petanque ball (pictured) which was left near a fire pit, according to local reports
As a result of the blast, one of the men present at the party took a metal shard to the head and was rushed to the hospital in a critical condition.
‘As it exploded, someone got pieces in the back of the skull. His days are endangered,’ Belgian publication Sudinfo quoted a police source as saying.
Sudinfo implied that someone at the party had the ‘stupid idea’ of putting the metal petanque balls in a brazier at their gîte, or holiday cottage.
Petanque, one of the most popular games in France and Belgium, is a form of boules that involves tossing metal balls as close to a smaller wooden ball as possible.
Competition boules are hollow, made by welding two steel half-spheres together before they are heated to around 900 degrees and then finished.
However, cheap boules with metal walls tend to be filled with a sand-like mixture to give them the weight steel-made equivalents would have, and are at risk of exploding when heated to high temperatures.
The tragic incident is not the first time someone has been either seriously injured or even killed in such circumstances.
In 2018, a Frenchman was killed when a petanque ball exploded and sent shrapnel into his skull. The ball was left near a barbecue. At the time, it was reported that paramedics rushed to the scene but were unable to save the 31-year-old.
And in 2009, a new unsold set of leisure boules sitting on a shelf in a shop’s storeroom in Switzerland spontaneously exploded.
An investigation was launched into the explosion, with the Swiss department store chain Co-op – which sold the sets – issuing an urgent recall.
The incident prompted the German government to issue a statement warning people of the danger of cheaply made boules reaching high temperatures.
The German Petanque Federation (DPA) recommended buying certified boules, and shopping for them in specific petanque shops, as opposed to supermarkets.
The Swiss Federal Laboratory for Materials Science and Technology (EMPA) analysed the remaining set, and found they were cheaply made.
EMPA found they had poorly welded seams, and were filled with a sand-like mixture (referred to as ‘mortar’ in some news reports at the time).
The organisation found the sand was damp and contaminated with metal filings, which had become corroded over time. This chemical reaction produced hydrogen gas, which built up inside one of the boules – creating a great deal of pressure.
Finally, the seam failed, and the ball dramatically exploded, the EMPA reported.
It is understood that the young man suffered severe shrapnel wounds to the head in the incident at a holiday home near the Amblève river on Saturday night when a metal ball exploded, sending shrapnel flying into his head. He is in a critical condition
There have been other reported incidents. In 2016, in a German town near Düsseldorf, a petanque ball exploded in the middle of a marquee. The explosion ripped a hole on the tent’s roof, and left a crater in the ground.
A German bomb squad responded, removed the remaining seven boules in the set, and safely detonated them.
A year later, in 2017, a Thai man became the first known person to be killed by an exploding boule. Reports suggested the players thought soaking the boule in water and then heating them up would help with their performance.
It is understood the man was heating boules when one exploded, sending a metal shard flying that pierced his skull and instantly killed him.