Bombs Linger Decades After a War Is Over-- Part 4: Fearing the Toxic Ones

The demineurs (de-miners) said that the most-feared unexploded ordnance they come across from World War I were the toxic ones.  They are the ones filled with now-banned poisons like mustard gas.

"You never know how solid their skins are.  They are often very rusty, so they make leak gas and kill you as you lift them," Henry Belot said.  Belot was later seriously injured when poison leaked from the shell and into his gas mask.

"Every day you can die.  It's something you remember each morning," he said.  "You can't anticipate it.  Out there is a shell with your name on it.  Today, if you lift it, you are in the past."

--GreGen