SYDNEY, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- A 37-year-old man and a young girl in Australia are recovering in a serious but stable condition at hospital on Tuesday, after a World War Two era ordnance exploded at their home Monday night.
New South Wales State Police Chief Inspector Brian Tracey said the shrapnel from the blast caused severe lacerations to the two.
"The four-year-old girl is undergoing surgery now for shrapnel wounds to her leg and hip," he told local media.
Called to the scene at around 22:00 local time, fire crews, bomb disposal experts and personnel from the Australian Defence Force set up a 50 meter exclusion zone in the residential neighbourhood of Anna Bay (200 kilometers north of Sydney) and began their investigation.
Police believe the man found the artillery shell nearby at Birubi Beach, a former World War Two weapons training range, and decided to take the item home as a souvenir.
"Any military ordnance you may find, it is dangerous, you're best not to touch it, play with it, you don't take it home," Port Stephens area police Inspector Alan Janson said.
"They were very lucky they didn't have more life-threatening injuries."
