Teenager finds 350-year-old grenade

A 13-year-old boy who discovered a grenade in an Austrian river has been told it is over 350 years old and still in perfect condition.

Police explosives expert Peter Freudelsberger examined the grenade and found it contained an ancient type of gunpowder.

The boy's parents were told that the waters of the river Old Rhine had rendered the explosive useless for the time being.

Their son had not been in danger as he carried the weapon to his home in Lustenau, Vorarlberg.

Lieutenant-Colonel Erwin Fitz from the Austrian Army believes the ancient explosive was likely to have been made during the Thirty Years War that took place in central Europe in the early 1600s.