A 37-year-old man from Eindhoven was seriously injured on Saturday evening in the Belgian Ardennes when a petanque ball exploded. That writes the Eindhovens Dagblad. The ball had landed in a burning brazier. The man is fighting for his life.
The man celebrated a bachelor party with a group of Dutch men in a holiday home in Rivage, close to the Spa-Francorchamps race track. They lit a firepit. According to bystanders, there were several iron petanque balls under or around the basket. Around half past ten it went wrong. One of the balls got so hot it exploded.
Garnet
According to the Stavelot-Malmedy police, the explosion of such a ball resembles that of a grenade. Pieces of the ball swung around and landed in the man’s head. Part of his face also burned. He was taken to the hospital in Liege. There he is kept in a coma, write local newspapers. Another Dutchman from the group was slightly injured.
Police are still investigating what exactly happened Saturday night.
Neighbour
The neighbor of the holiday home in Stavelot tells the Belgian news channel VTM that it sounded like a gas bottle exploded. When he heard an ambulance and an air ambulance arrive, he knew it was serious. “We heard the paramedics tell each other that the man’s whole face was burned,” he says.