Contractor remodeling bathroom finds grenade behind the tub

Jan. 19 (UPI) -- A contractor working on a remodeling job in Washington was removing a bathtub from the home when he made a surprising discovery inside the wall: a grenade.

Vadim Kharkhavyy, owner of Polar Bear Construction, said he tore out the tub in the third-floor bathroom of the home in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood, revealing a hidden compartment in the wall and an object that appeared to be a grenade.

"My first thought was to get out of there," Kharkavyy told KIRO-TV.

Kharkavyy returned to the bathroom and captured video of the grenade, which he posted to his company's TikTok page.

"I rushed out of there, took a breath, and actually went back in and recorded the situation," he said. "I zoomed in on my phone and took a closer peek, I'm like that's an actual freaking grenade."

The Seattle Police Department's bomb squad responded to the home and confirmed the object was a grenade, but it was inert.

"They mentioned something about [World War II] and how veterans came home and they brought weapons and stuff with them and somebody stored it there and possibly forgot about it," Kharkavyy said.