Canadian soldiers have recovered an unexploded shell from the banks of the St. Lawrence River in Nicolet, Que., across from Trois-Rivières, Quebec police say.

Police were called Friday to establish a security perimeter in the town. They later confirmed that soldiers had recovered the object, which was deemed harmless, according to a Canadian Press report published by Global News.

The municipality said in a social media post that the Canadian Armed Forces would transport the shell elsewhere for destruction. The report did not confirm that it had been destroyed.

The shell had been submerged by a rising tide in Nicolet’s Port Saint-François area, the municipality said. Two shells were found in the same area within two days last July.

From 1952 to 2000, the Defence Department conducted tests at a munitions test centre in Nicolet by firing into Lac Saint-Pierre, through which the St. Lawrence flows. The report did not establish whether the newly recovered shell came from those tests.

The federal government says firing now takes place inside a sand-filled containment berm, where the munitions are subsequently recovered.

Sources