World War II hand grenade found in tree in Singapore

SINGAPORE - A World War II hand grenade has been safely disposed of after it was found in a tree in Singapore, the Singapore Army said on its Facebook page Friday.

Several construction workers were resting near a tree close to the Outram subway station near the downtown area on Thursday when they were drawn to the sight of a tree stump with a heart shape, it said.

The workers, on closer inspection, discovered a war relic, nestled in a crevice between two branches.

The Explosive Ordnance Disposal team from the Singapore Armed Forces was called in to investigate and found the device to be a World War II hand grenade.

With a police security cordon in place, the disposal team " worked through the night, and successfully disposed of the war relic" at 12:45 am on Friday, it said.

Singapore, then a British colony, fell to Japanese occupation in February 1942. The Japanese occupation only ended when Japan surrendered itself in 1945 with hundreds of thousands of local civilians believed to have been killed in three years.