Look what’s washed up on Oregon beaches this week. (Newport Beach PD Facebook)
The Newport Beach, OR Police Department has dealt with some strange things, like many departments. But probably never this before.
3 simulator hand grenades wash up on Oregon beaches
On October 4th, Tuesday of this week, the NBPD received 3 calls from citizens who each reported finding these explosive devices, which had washed ashore in the Newport area between Yaquina Bay State Park and Agate beach.
The devices are white and have the following on the label, “Simulator Hand grenade, M116A1 firing instructions,” and it says “Warning-explosive.“
The NBPD called the Oregon State Police Bomb Squad, who disposed of them. No word from the Police or State Police about where these might have originated from.
The devices are used in military training
According to the website static1.squarespace.com, these are used for simulation in military training exercises. From the website itself:
“The Simulator, Hand Grenade is designed for training exercises to acclimatize troops to the sights and sounds of battle in a non-lethal format. This device, once the pull-wire is activated, after 6 – 12 seconds produces a loud report or simulated explosion of a grenade.”
That explains what they are, but doesn’t answer how they happened to wash up on some Oregon Beaches. Did they fall off a ship during exercises? Were they discarded into water that flows into the ocean? Rather mysterious, really.
We looked around online and found this homemade video of a hand grenade simulator. If not prepared for it, this could cause some hurt if you are close. However, since these Oregon ones came out of the water, it’s likely they are waterlogged and might not work. But, better if the bomb squad destroyed them.
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