Young Leicester magnet fishers pull grenade from canal

Two boys were left fearing for their lives when they went magnet fishing and pulled a rusting grenade out of a canal.

Kaleb Russell, 11, and Archie Watts, 12, were searching for metal at a Leicester canal when they encountered the explosive on Friday.

They alerted police who cordoned the area off and summoned an army bomb squad to the scene.

A controlled explosion was then carried out at a separate location.

The pair were magnet fishing with Kaleb's stepfather, Oliver Marabella.

"When Kaleb shouted me over I instantly realised the item on the end of the magnet was some form of grenade," he said.

"This made me very anxious and scared, knowing how unstable it could have been."

He said that after sharing the picture on Facebook, he was told the grenade might be a German grenade dating from World War One.

"I mean, what is a German hand grenade doing in a Leicester canal? I would love to know how it got there," he said.

Mr Marabella put the grenade in the boot of his Volvo while they waited for the police and bomb squad to arrive.

Bomb specialists then took it away to be blown up at a safe location.

A Leicestershire Police spokeswoman said: "We received a report just before 15:00 on Friday from a magnet fisher who had discovered what he believed to be a grenade in the Soar Lane area of Leicester.

"Police attended and cordoned the scene. Explosive Ordnance Disposal were consulted and carried out a controlled explosion."

The Canal and River Trust has previously warned about the dangers of magnet fishing.

Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].