Divers from the Zurich municipal police and the army recovered the shell from the lake bed on Friday morning. The projectile was first spotted on Tuesday by a recreational diver who contacted the authorities. It was lying at a depth of just under five metres and in proximity to a popular lakeside restaurant in Zurich’s district 8.
For safety reasons, the police cordoned off the area on the lake and on the shore during the recovery work. The shell was then transported in a special vehicle.
The demining specialists have determined that the shell is a mine launcher projectile from the First World War, and produced in Germany between 1914 and 1918. It is not known how long the shell had been at the bottom of the lake.
In 2021, 908 instances of found ordnances were reported in Switzerland, leading to the recovery of 2,741 ammunition-related objects.
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