Dutchman dies 10 days after he was hit in the head by shrapnel from exploding petanque ball
Petanque ‘grenade’ tragedy: Dutchman dies 10 days after being hit in the head by shrapnel from exploding metal ball
- The explosion took place in the Belgian town of Stavelot, in Wallonia on May 13
- The 37-year-old unnamed tourist from Eindhoven died on May 18
A Dutchman who was seriously injured after a steel petanque ball left at a fire pit exploded during a bachelor party, has died ten days after the incident.
The explosion reportedly burned his entire face and embedded metal shards in his skull.
A neighbor said he “thought a gas bottle had exploded” in the incident around 9:30 p.m. on May 13 in which the 37-year-old unnamed tourist from Eindhoven was seriously injured.
It has now become known that the man died on May 18 as a result of the explosion in the Belgian town of Stavelot, in Wallonia.
It was alleged that the tourists, all in their mid-thirties, placed bocce balls in or under the fire pit, with one of them getting so hot it exploded.
A neighbor said he ‘thought a gas bottle had exploded’ in the incident where the 37-year-old unnamed Dutch tourist from Eindhoven was seriously injured in the blast at around 9:30pm on May 13 (stock image)
In the photo: the holiday home in Stavelot, in Wallonia, where the incident took place
Petanque is a popular French game in which metal balls are thrown as close as possible to a small wooden or plastic ball called a cochonnet.
The man’s family told local media: “We are shocked by the sudden passing, he will be greatly missed.”
They asked for their privacy to be respected so they can grieve in peace.
The neighbor told local media: ‘Fifteen minutes later we saw an ambulance coming. Then we heard a medical helicopter circling overhead. Then I knew it was for the vacation rental.”
He added: “We heard the paramedics talking among themselves. So someone was seriously injured – his whole face was burned.’
The victim was transferred by helicopter to the University Hospital in Liège, where he was kept in an artificial coma.
Stavelot-Malmedy police told local media: ‘It had the same effect as a grenade.
“When the ball exploded, pieces flew into the back of someone’s skull.”
In the photo: neighbor Javier Parmenier
In the photo: The playground for the petanque balls of the holiday home in Stavelot, Belgium
In the photo: The playground for the petanque balls. The man’s family told local media: ‘We are shocked by the sudden passing, he will be greatly missed’
A second Dutchman is also said to have been slightly injured by the explosion.
The police are investigating the incident.
The tragic accident is not the first time someone has been seriously injured or even killed in such circumstances.
In 2018, a Frenchman was killed when a petanque ball exploded and shrapnel lodged in his skull.
The ball was left at a barbecue. It was reported at the time that paramedics rushed to the scene but were unable to save the 31-year-old.
And in 2009, a new unsold set of leisure boules spontaneously exploded on a shelf in the warehouse of a store in Switzerland.
An investigation was launched into the explosion, with the Swiss department store chain Co-op – which sold the sets – issuing an urgent recall.
The incident prompted the German government to issue a statement warning people of the danger of cheaply made boules reaching high temperatures.