OAK HARBOR, Ohio — The Northwest Ohio Bomb Squad assisted magnet fishers Friday who located "numerous pieces" of military ammunition in an Oak Harbor river.
"There's always a rush when you find something that might blow up in your face," said Randy Burns, who found the items alongside Jason Vanderwal.
Vanderwal and Burns contacted NOBS to assist them while they went magnet fishing in the Toussaint River near an overpass on State Route 2. Members had previously located mortar pieces on May 6, when they had been magnet fishing in the same area, and informed law enforcement they were likely to discover more.
Police said magnet fishers Friday retrieved from the Toussaint River the following pieces of military-grade ammunition:
- 3 M344 106 mm HEAT rounds
- 1 M8 4.5-inch rocket
- 1 40 mm cartridge
- 5 60 mm mortar rounds
It was unclear if any of the rounds contained any explosive material, police and NOBS said.
Bomb squad crews secured the pieces of ammunition, which they said they would dispose of at a later date.
Vanderwal sent WTOL 11 the following photos of what was recovered from the river.
In the four years they've been cleaning the waterways through magnet fishing, the pair has reeled in everything from shopping carts, to old guns and even dead bodies, bringing in hundreds of thousands, and even sometimes millions, of views to their YouTube channel: Motor City Magnet Fishers.
When they hauled four mortars and missiles on the day of their initial discovery, the fishermen knew they hadn't caught every military-grade explosive in the water's depths.
"If we could find four in 30 minutes, imagine how many more could be down there," Burns said.
Because of the likelihood there are more in the river, Vanderwal and Burns said they expect the bomb squad to ask them to come back for a third time.
Vanderwal is uncertain how the ammunition even ended up in the river.
"It could have been dumped by the marinas in the area, it could have been dumped by the military, we have no idea," he said.
The explosive discovery won't deter local angler Dave McGlothlin from fishing in the river, but it did make him consider the uncertainty that comes with explosives.
"I don't feel like I'm in danger or anything like that, but then again you never know," I don't know if you just hit them and they go off, you just don't know."
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