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Darwin Awards
2009 Slush Pile

This item was recently submitted by a reader.
Should I include it in the archive?
Vote to tell me what *you* think!

italy: man drills a ww1 gas-bomb

2009 Reader Submission
Pending Acceptance

shortly. arcade, a town near venice. a man, alessandro santovito, 33 years old, living in the area of ww1 italia-austrian front (1917-1918), finds in ground a old ww1 shell. in this case, normal people call police or army, but he prefers to take the bomb. normal people with a old cannon-shell take it in a sure place, and don't touch it absolutely; but he prefers to try to oper the bomb. the shell is rusty and he doesn't succeed to open it: what to do? never surrend! normal people use all cautions; but he doesn't and he prefers to use a drill.

he succeeded.

it was a austrian gas-shell. full of phosgene, a poison.

all the area has been evacuated, 100 people moved away, police, army, nuclear-bacteriological-chemical battaillon, that area isolated...

he survived.

http://espresso.repubblica.it/dettaglio-local/Disinnesca-una-bomba-100-evacuati/2047411

ARCADE. Voleva disinnescare un ordigno bellico in garage e sprigiona il fosgene, un gas altamente tossico. Alessandro Santovito, 33 anni, padre di due figli di Arcade poteva causare una strage. Ora è in Rianimazione in stato di arresto. Le sue condizioni sono gravi. A causa della fuoriuscita del gas si è formata una nube tossica che ha costretto la Prefettura ad evacuare quattro palazzine di via del Fante. Cento le persone sfollate, in 17 hanno avuto sintomi da intossicazione e sono andate in ospedale.

Alessandro Santovito ha cominciato a sentirsi male durante la notte, almeno quattro ore dopo, quel maldestro tentativo di disinnesco dell’ordigno bellico. Di fabbricazione austriaca, risale alla Grande Guerra, si tratta di una vera e propria arma chimica. Una granata, che una volta esplosa, sprigionava un gas mortale, il fosgene. Pare ne siano state sparate centinaia in quella zona, due sono state ritrovate casualmente nei giorni scorsi: una da Santovito, l’altra in un terreno vicino alla scuola elementare.

Secondo la ricostruzione compiuta dai carabinieri del Nucleo Operativo di Treviso e della Compagnia di Montebelluna, l’uomo non era un collezionista di ordigni bellici, nemmeno un appassionato. Ha trovato per caso quel pezzo di artiglieria delle dimensioni di 40 per 10 centimetri e se l’è portata in garage nella sua villetta a schiera in via del Fante 7, ad Arcade. Non si è reso conto della pericolosità di maneggiare quell’ordigno. E venerdì pomeriggio si è messo a smontarlo senza usare alcuna precauzione. Non riusciva ad aprirlo, così ha usato un trapano causando la fuoriscita del fosgene che l’ha investito in pieno.

Il malore. E’ nel cuore della notte che Alessandro Santovito comincia a sentirsi male. Respira a fatica e vomita in continuazione. La moglie decide di portarlo in pronto soccorso a Montebelluna, mentre l’uomo peggiora visibimente. Davanti ai medici, che cercano di capire il motivo di quei sintomi così gravi, l’operaio racconta che nel pomeriggio ha smontato un ordigno bellico. Immediatamente scatta l’allarme, mentre Santovito viene ricoverato d’urgenza in rianimazione. Ha un’edema polmonare.

L’allarme. Avvertiti i vigili del fuoco di Treviso, alle 4 nel garage di via del Fante ad Arcade, arrivano gli uomini del nucleo specializzato «Nbcr» attrezzati con le tute anticontaminazione. Sono loro i primi a vedere l’ordigno smontato e a fare i test con i liquidi reagenti. Quando l’analisi del fosgene è positivo, il garage viene sigillato e viene avvertita la Prefettura di Treviso e la protezione civile.

L’evacuazione e l’arresto. Mentre il pubblico ministero Giovanni Valmassoi mette in stato di arresto Alessandro Santovito per «detenzione illegale di ordigno bellico», i suoi vicini di casa vengono svegliati dai carabineri e dal sindaco Emanuela Pol avvertita dal prefetto. Alle 6, quarantadue famiglie sono costrette a lasciare il proprio appartamento. C’è il rischio di contaminazione e di esplosione. Chi viene accolto a casa di parenti, chi invece si sistema nella sala consigliare fatta aprire dal sindaco. Gli artificieri. E’ mezzogiorno quando due super esperti del III Reggimento Guastatori di Udine arrivano ad Arcade. In un’ora mettono in sicurezza l’ordigno e lo trasferiscono in una cava a Bidasio. I tecnici dell’Arpav iniziano le rilevazioni per valutare la percentuale di fosgene nell’aria, ormai irrisoria. Alle 18.30 le famiglie sono state fatte rientrare. Restano però sotto sequestro giudiziario l’appartamento e il garage di Santovito: la sua famiglia non può ancora tornare a casa.

here http://www.oggitreviso.it/santovito-uscito-dalla-rianimazione-10378 he gets better in hospital

here http://www.oggitreviso.it/santovito-resta-grave-ma-non-%C3%A8-pi%C3%B9-agli-arresti-10323 the judge frees the man; he is still hurt. photos of isolated toxic area.

here http://tribunatreviso.gelocal.it/dettaglio/parla-alessandro-santovito-mi-metto-in-ginocchio/1539551 public shame of the man, he apologizes with people of his town

Submitted on 04/30/2009

Submitted by: jacopo.giliberto@ilsole24ore.com
Reference: daily "la tribuna di treviso" and other papers, 2nd nov 2008

Copyright © 2009 DarwinAwards.com

>> Moderator Scores <<

Bruce said:
Definitely Toss: Other
Thanks for the story, but given this was a gas shell and resulted in hundreds being evacuated I'm inclined to invoke the 'bystanders hurt' rule even if nobody was actually hurt. More importantly, such similar stories are amazingly common. We regularly get stories submitted from all over Europe, southeast Asia (Vietnam, etc) and even here in parts of the US from people who find munitions left over from various wars and decide to use them as souvenirs or whatnot instead of having them properly disposed of. (Here in the US it's usually cannon balls, etc. from the US Civil War.)


James said:
Definitely Toss: Other
As Bruce said!


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