Shellshocked: Hospital evacuated after doctors find unexploded WW1 bomb lodged in man's rectum

Bomb disposal units were deployed to Rangueil Hospital in Toulouse, France, after medics found the eight-inch long artillery shell from 1918 lodged inside the 24-year-old’s anus during surgery.

He was said to be “in a state of extreme discomfort, having inserted a large object up his rectum”.

A security perimeter was set up as emergency services worked to defuse the device.

The shell was declared safe with no risk to the public, according to Le Parisien.

The man, who has not been named, is still recovering from surgery.

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He could reportedly face charges for handling "category A munitions".

It is currently not known why the 37mm brass-and-copper shell was lodged in the man’s anus but he is set to be interviewed this week.

But medical staff in Toulouse are “accustomed to treating victims injured during sexual games”, according to La Dépêche newspaper.

A police source said: “He was in a state of extreme discomfort, having inserted a large object up his rectum.“Emergency surgery was carried out, and the object was found to be an artillery shell dating back to the First World War.”

They added: “Worse still, it had not exploded, and so bomb disposal experts had to be called to defuse the shell, with the fire brigade standing by.”

The 37mm brass-and-copper shell was 20cm long and used by the Imperial German Army during the First World War.

They often turn up during the  “Iron Harvest” – a yearly collection of often unexploded munitions from both world wars on farmland, building sites and other disrupted land.