MoD confirms 'smoking beach bottle' was WW2 grenade
Marie LovellA smoking glass bottle which set fire to a dog's lead was a WW2-era grenade, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has confirmed.
The beach at Blackhall Colliery and Crimdon, near Hartlepool, was cordoned off following the discovery on Thursday.
A dog walker thought he would clean the "nice looking bottle" at home, but it started smoking when he took the lid off.
The MoD said the device was a "historic WW2-era self-igniting phosphorus grenade" and that it was later disposed of by a controlled explosion.
Last month, about 150 of the phosphorous-based grenades were found on Crimdon Dene Beach.
The walker managed to throw the lead on the ground at the time and was uninjured.
The cordon has since been removed.
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