Russia: a family discovers having lived more than 70 years on a shell

People from St. Petersburg have discovered, during renovation works, "a shell from the Second World War under the floor".

A family in St. Petersburg realized they had lived over 70 years on top of a shell, discovered on Monday under the floor of his apartment.

The shell was under the floor. These residents of a building in the center of the second largest city of Russia discovered, during renovation works, "a shell from the Second World War that was under the floor," told AFP an official of the Petrogradski District Administration of St. Petersburg, Alexandra Sokolova. All residents of the building were evacuated a few hours after the discovery, and the shell was swept away by the specialized services dispatched to the scene, she said.

Between 1941 and 1944, Leningrad (Soviet name St. Petersburg) suffered a terrible blockade by Nazi troops. The city - where hundreds of thousands of people died of starvation - suffered a great deal of bombing and artillery fire during this period.