Explosives Wash Up on Central Oregon Coast Beaches Around Newport

Published 10/05/22 at 5:34 PM
By Oregon Coast Beach Connection staff

(Newport, Oregon) – A message in a bottle they are not. Small explosives have been found on the beaches of Newport in recent days, with Newport police being dispatched to multiple reports around the central Oregon coast town. So far, they've been discovered in a fairly wide area, from the southern tip at the jetty all the way up to Agate Beach, encompassing a few miles. (Photo Newport Police Department)

The Newport Police Department said they have responded to three separate devices and each has appeared to have washed ashore and not been dropped there.

“The Oregon State Police Bomb Squad responded and seized the devices,” the department said.

The devices are white and have a label that clearly reads “Warning Explosive.” They indicate the objects are a simulator hand grenade, model M116A. They do explode to some small degree, according to the manufacturer HFI Pyrotechnics Inc., out of Canada.

“If you encounter such a device, please do not handle or attempt to move it,” police said. “Call 911 to report the device’s location. “

Newport police have no idea where they came from or how they got into the ocean along the Oregon coast.

According to HFI Pyrotechnics' website:

Nye Beach, photo Oregon Coast Beach Connection

“The Simulator, Hand Grenade is designed for training exercises to acclimatize troops to the sights and sounds of battle in a non-lethal format. This device, once the pull-wire is activated, after 6 – 12 seconds produces a loud report or simulated explosion of a grenade.”

They create a visible flash as well.

There have been no other reports along other areas of the Oregon coast of such finds.

These finds are a little reminiscent of the days following World War II, when larger explosives sometimes washed in along the Oregon coast. See World War II Mines an Explosive Problem on Oregon, Washington Coast in '50s (part one). The good times are just getting going, but there's still some World War II dangers out there along the West Coast. Old mines from Japan and the U.S. are floating this way and occasionally landing on the beaches. Instruments of war meant to destroy ships at sea by surprise are still left out there – from both sides, actually (but it's the Japanese mines that get all the press). Sometimes the spiked and thoroughly scary devices are found at sea; sometimes they wash up on beaches where tourists hang out.

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